A Rose Among Thorns
by Narya of the Fire
Summary: In the final year of Hogwars, Lily, James and the Marauders fall under many dark circumstances and in the midst of all chaos and hell, Lily and James fall in love. Starts in 7th year, goes to their deaths.
1. Prolouge

Because of recent events, I have been forced to take down my Harry Potter fic, called Silver Glass. I truly did intend to finish it, and I had a majority of the story and three other chapters typed out, but life got in the way and after eight exams just to graduate for the year, my brother graduating from the Air Force Academy, and life just being a bitch I had to take down my story. It really was going nowhere, and I wouldn't be able to finish it. I had to do the same thing to my anime fanfic, For Lust, Perhaps! So I took a nice long four month break so I could get my life back in order, and trust me it wasn't the easiest thing to do in the world. So now with things calming down, and two and a half months till school starts up again I am free to do what I want (or at least till Marching Band starts up again). Things have really been sucking goat balls for me; I just needed to get a new leaf. So with a new pen-name, Narya of the Fire, I am up and running again on I am going to be starting all over again with a new Lily and James story. The plot is going to have some of the same elements, but in the big scheme of things three are going to be some MAJOR changes.  
  
If you haven't read my first Lily and James story, Silver Glass, then all you need to do is just sit back, relax and enjoy the show. But if you have I will tell you that the rating will not be as high, and the beginning of the story will be more serious, as I indented the other one to be, but it never really worked out. The beginning will start out as a regular PG-13, and it will go up to about a PG-15, or at least that is what I have planned. It may go up higher than that, I don't know. I am not very far into my planning stage. I only have the first five or so chapters planned.  
  
One final note, for those of you who keep up with every single interview with J.K Rowling, and her new website you will learn that many of the very stereotypical things of Lily and James fan fiction are excluded and as such I will also exclude them from my story. A major one being that Lily is in either Ravenclaw or Slytherin that is NOT true. Rowling said in several of her interviews that our favorite Miss Evans is in Gryffindor. Rowling has also confirmed that James is a CHASER, not a Seeker, and that Lily never was or never will be a Death Eater. Okay everyone? Get it? Got it? Good.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own jack shit. All is property to the wonderfully magnificent J.K Rowling. I own certain characters that you don't recognize, but other than that I own nothing but a mint copy of the Lord of the Rings books, DVD's, and posters, as well as the Harry Potter books, DVD's, soundtracks, and PC games .That is IT. All of you blood sucking lawyers can go screw off. In this chapter, the ONLY character I own is Lily's friend, Anthy. Just for a neat little tid-bit, the word Anthy is Greek and it means Flower.  
  
Enjoy...  
  
Summer vacation for Miss Lillian Evans of number 18 of Sindar Drive were always the most dreaded times of the year. It wasn't like she was beaten, abused or starved, on the contrary her family, or at least most of them, loved Lily very much but it was Lily's oddities around normal people which made her an outcast. She was seventeen years old, and attending the finest school of Witch Craft and Wizardry in all of Britain, and not all people were very accepting of that fact. Lily's very own flesh and blood, namely her sister Petunia, scoffed at her sister's very existence. However, so far Lily had been having the best summer since she had started Hogwarts, because her sister had been dating a nice young chap from Little Whinging named Vernon Dursley and she spent most of her summer time there. With the absence of her sister, Lily had taken it upon herself to force herself to have a good summer, and so far she had been having good luck. Her best friends, both fellow witches, were coming over to her house for a week. Both of her friends had a muggle relation in their family so they knew how to blend in well with the surroundings. But sadly it was two more days till her friends were due to arrived, and Lily was just about out of ideas to keep herself busy over her summer break. All of the summer homework that her teachers assigned had been completed in the first week of vacation because Lily did not believe in procrastinating, she had yet to receive her Hogwarts letter so she didn't know what new books she needed to go down to Diagon Alley, and on top of all that her parents refused to give her leave to go down into Diagon Alley to meet with her fellow witches and wizards. As far as they were concerned, Lily was theirs during summer break and she had to spend time with them. Just getting them to let her two friends over was a big pain in the rump, but after much coaxing and persuading they agreed.  
  
Lily was lying on her water bed lost in thought. Lost in daydreams was more like it, because she didn't really have much more to think about. Her cat, Nenya (A/N: FINE, I admit it that I got a number of the names from the Lord of the Rings. GET OVER IT. I am writing this at eleven-o-clock at friggan night and I have no more room in my brain for creating new names), was on her back fast asleep with her little snow-capped paws sticking up in the air. It was around nine-o-clock in the morning, and Lily was in no real mood to wake up. She didn't have much of a good nights sleep and her mind was filled with ideas to do with her friends once they came over. She rolled over onto her side and reflected back to Hogwarts and how much she missed it.  
  
Every aspect of the castle, no matter how small, was missed; except for maybe the Slytherin students and their head of house, Professor Sindar the advanced Airthmency teacher. Hell, Lily even missed, though in limited amounts, the Marauders. James Potter and his gang of 'misfits' as Lily loved to call them lived to annoy, pester, and in all other words bug the living hell out of every single student and teacher for that matter at Hogwarts and they were very good at it. The ringleader of course was Mister James Potter. Tall, not very dark, but undoubtedly handsome to every member of the female sex at Hogwarts, James easily took the title of the most loved chap there. His grades were top notch and were only challenged by Lily's, and sometimes his best friends' Sirius. Sirius Black was the second- in-command of the Marauders, and usually the one to pick out which unlucky victim would befall their joke every week. He was just as popular as Potter, and arguably more handsome. His skin was smooth and tanned, while his long black hair fell neatly and seductively into his ebony eyes. He was every girl's dream man in almost every aspect, physically and mentally, but none really wanted to get too intimate with the infamous Sirius Black for his pureblood family approved of no one who had even a drop of non-magical blood in their bodies. Remus Lupin was considered the subtle one of the Marauders and more often than not, the peacekeeper. He had pale lanky blonde hair which was kept long and it covered his intense grey eyes. Remus was the one that Lily got along with the most. Actually she got along with him very well, and admired him in some senses but never really looked to him as a potential boyfriend. Last and most definitely least of the Marauders was little Peter Pettigrew. Peter seemed like a little black rain cloud that hovered wherever he went, and didn't really register with the Marauders talent wise or in his looks. As a matter of fact he was short and slightly overweight with lanky blonde hair and watery blue eyes. Lily always had her guard up when Peter was anywhere to be found, he just had that sort of eerie feeling that made you feel that his loyalties were not quite set in stone.  
  
James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew held the record of number of detentions given to any student ever to have passed through Hogwarts. Even the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore said it himself that he had never in all his years seen such trouble makers. Yet despite the fact that they were kings of mischief the Marauders always seemed to get away with everything, and were very well liked among most of the students. It sickened Lily that they always, somehow, manage to weasel their way out of trouble and it wasn't exactly comforting to know that you were the one that fell victim to the Marauders more than anyone, rivaled only by the infamous Severus Snape. Just the previous week when Lily was packing her things to get on the Hogwarts Express she found that her cat had been dyed Slytherin green, the muggle way, so that there was no counter spell to change her poor cat back to normal. Ever since her first minute of her first day at Hogwarts the Marauders made her life an almost living Hell. In fact they were the ones that pushed her off her broomstick in her first year and caused her to break her leg and develop a permanent fear of heights. In her third year things were made even worse when their ringleader, James Potter, decided that she was the best looking thing on two legs and had been perusing her ever since. Though his feelings of attraction were only second to his mischief because his way of showing affection was to curse her in the middle of the night so her nose hairs grew so rapidly they curled around her throat. But Lily had all but forgotten about that incident because sweet revenge had been hers, for the next day there was a Quidditch practice and James found a little 'surprise' on his broomstick.  
  
But it was the simple little quirks like that which made Lily long for Hogwarts that much, and not have to deal with her sister's constant tormenting of the fact of having to hide who she truly was in front of her parent's friends or even her own friends before she had received her letter. Lily groaned out loud again, and slowly rose herself from her bed and made an almost zombie like walk over to the bathroom where she took a shower and dressed in a plain pair of jeans and a red tee-shirt that had a Japanese style phoenix embroidered on it. Almost grudgingly she walked down the stairs to get some toast before heading out for the day. But a nasty little surprise awaited Lily in the kitchen. As she descended the stairs Lily made a head-on collision with none other than her sister. "Watch where you are heading! Has that freak school of yours taught you that it is rude to purposely run into other people?" Petunia snapped.  
  
"Petunia, what the bloody hell are you doing here," Lily asked because her sister wasn't due back home for another two weeks.  
  
"Mummy and Daddy want to meet Vernon, and we are to discuss my leaving this dirt hole of a house because it is starting to stink with abnormal freaks in it" Petunia said coolly. It was no secret that the 21-year-old Petunia loathed her sister. Some thought it was out of jealously, but others figured that it was just in Petunia's nature to be bitter towards everyone who didn't heed her every word.  
  
"Sure thing Petunia. Though I will be rather...happy when you leave. I won't have someone barking their head off at my every two seconds", Lily responded without much of anything in her voice. It was too early to deal with the black cloud over her house that was Petunia. As Lily continued to descend the stairs, Petunia gave a 'humph' of disapproval at her sister and marched back up into her room. Lily was far too used to her sister's treatment to care. At the beginning it had been rough when Petunia rejected her, but after seven years of having to deal with it Lily just didn't care. Sure it still hurt when Petunia openly voiced that her sister was a freak, but other than that she really didn't care.  
  
Once she reached the bottom of the stairs her mother, Violet and her father, John were busy sipping coffee but they said 'hi' to their youngest daughter when she entered the room. Lily took a seat at her usual chair, the one in the back of the table, and helped herself to some toast with marmalade. Breakfast was always a quite event, not that it mattered much to anyone. Her parents were always busy reading their 'Psychology Today' magazine and Lily's thoughts always went back to Hogwarts. After around ten minutes of silence Violet Evans spoke up "Lily dear, tonight as I think you would already have heard, Petunia's boyfriend is coming over for dinner to meet the family. He doesn't know about your being a witch, so please try and act...", Mrs. Evans dragged on.  
  
"Like I am normal"  
  
"Thank you dear. Don't worry though, he will be out of the house by tomorrow morning, and you will be able to have fun with your friends without have to pretend to be something that you are not," Mrs. Evans said cheerfully. She knew that Lily's relationship with Petunia was a very rough and bumpy one, but she did try to make the best of it.  
  
"Sure thing Mom. Besides, all of my homework is done for the summer so there really isn't much else that is magical that I can do," Lily said. Not really wanted to spend much more time at the table, Lily excused herself and went back up to her room. Things had really been going on really crappy during the summer, and Lily wanted some time to herself. It was a good thing that she went back up to her room at that time because a large Eagle Owl came swooping in through her bedroom window. If it had been anyone else in the room they would have panicked because the owl was so huge. Lily stared at the owl with a puzzled expression. None of the school owls were anywhere near that big, and neither her friends Dorcas or Anthy could afford an Eagle Owl. Lily reached out to the owl and pulled the letter from its leg and sent the large bird on its way. But the bird refused to move. She shooed it away, and the Owl just stared at her with a reproaching look. "Fine then, stay. See what happens when Petunia comes up here", she said at it.  
  
Lily tore open the letter and it was addressed to her in unfamiliar hand writing. Curious to know, she unfolded the parchment and read out loud:  
  
Dear Lily Flower,  
I hope things are going good for you. Everything here is capital B, boring. Despite the fact that Sirius moved in we are all out of pranks to play until school starts. I thought I would drop you a line, my dearest flower, and see how you are doing. The muggles better be treating you well, or else they will have to deal with me. Only two more weeks until school, so I will be looking forward to seeing your beautiful face again.  
  
Love From, James Potter (or Jamesie-poo whichever you prefer)  
  
P.S: My owl, Orpheus, has strict orders from me not to leave without a response from you so hope you reply soon.  
  
"James, must you be such an ass?" Lily cursed so loud that the owl, Orpheus, made a loud hoot. Was his number one ambition to make her life a living hell? Well if it was he was doing a damn good job of it. A sudden wave of anger hit Lily, and her face turned almost to the color of her hair out of sheer anger. Who was he to sick his owl on in the middle of the summer? And on top of that, how did he get her address? It was enough to infuriate her, and light the short fuse that would send her off the edge. Lily glanced angrily over at Orpheus and realized that the only way to get rid of the gargantuan bird in her room was to respond to James. Grudgingly she pulled out a piece of parchment and found a quill and began writing his royal ass a response.  
  
James-the-ass-Potter, How the hell did you get my address? 2) Is your goal in life to make mine a living hell? 3) If it is you are doing a fucking damn good job of it. 4) How dare you tell your owl, what-ever-his-name-is, that he couldn't leave! 5) Do you always take it upon yourself to ruin my already crappy day?  
  
Absolutely no love from, L. Evans  
  
P.S: Go to hell P.S.S: why is Sirius living with you?  
  
Lily rolled the parchment up and sealed it. Then she gave it to Orpheus and told him to give the letter to James. With a beat of the Owl's enormous wings it took off into the distance. Lily sighed, 'Well at least hearing from a fellow magical person means that I am not completely forgotten there' she mentally thought to herself. With a glance over at the clock it was around ten thirty and she still had 8 hours to kill before her meeting with Vernon. At that Lily grabbed a light coat and some muggle money and went back down the stairs for a day of shopping.  
  
Seven and a half hours later, Lily returned to her home. She had spent all that time in London and hadn't bought a single thing except for a necklace that had broomstick charm on it that she found in a New Age shop. It was the closest thing she could find to Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. Not to mention the letter from James that morning and put her in a particularly foul mood for the day. She snapped at the teenage boys who were cat-calling when she walked by and had threatened them with cursing them. Of course the boys didn't take the threat seriously until she lost complete control and made the bottle of Coke one of them had explode in their faces. Afterwards they called her a Witch from another world and took off. Lily just smiled at the insult and went on her way. It was then when she found the New Age shop and figured it would be the closest thing she could find to an actual shop from Diagon Alley. All they had in the store were supposed 'love and truth potions', fake wands, books for turning your boyfriend into a toad, and an endless supply of charms for bracelets and necklaces.  
  
Despite finding nothing in muggle London, she much preferred to being there than at home. Once she arrived at her home she was greeted by her parents and told her to quickly wash and change into something nice but not too formal. Not really in the mood to argue, Lily went up the stairs and changed into a pair of tight jeans and black long sleeved shirt with white beads sewn in. Once she went back down into the kitchen Petunia and Vernon were already at the table waiting to be served. In the process of waiting, the two had decided to make out in the process. It was a disgusting sight. To watch your only sister snog a man who is three times her own size is a sight that Lily never hoped to see. To break it up Lily shouted out "It wouldn't kill you to get off your butt and go help Mom and Dad who are preparing dinner for you".  
  
The two stopped immediately, and both glared at Lily with the utmost loathing. "I don't know Lily. Would it be too much trouble for you to actually care about someone other than yourself," Petunia said.  
  
That comment immediately hit a nerve with Lily and lit the spark to her temper which was about to ignite in three seconds. "How the hell can you call me lazy when Mom and Dad are sweating over a hot stove while you are over here snoging with some guy." Lily yelled at the top of her lungs.  
  
Next came a series of insults, threats, and curses from Petunia. All of which she had called her sister before, and Lily didn't take offense to them as Petunia would have liked. Instead whenever Petunia paused to come up with some new insults Lily just responded with 'sure' and 'yeah, that's right'. In the kitchen Mr. and Mrs. Evans could sense danger and they immediately went out to quell the fight. For the remainder of the night, Lily did nothing but sit and eat in complete and utter silence. As soon as her last bite was finished she fled from the table and missed desert. The tension was enough to drive anyone mad, and Lily was on her final and very short nerve.  
  
That night Lily went to bed early and woke up as late as possible so as to not meet with her sister or Vernon again. Lily would have given any amount of gold and silver to escape the house and make for Diagon Alley but her parents had her trapped. All she could do was waiting and anticipate when her two friends would arrive the next day.  
  
(a/n: sorry, but I am too lazy to write about a number of hours in which absolutely nothing happens  
  
It was around noon the next day when Lily's two best friends in the existence of the world showed up at her house. They were dressed in muggle fashion so as not to attract any attention, and each of them greeted Lily with a bear hug. "Hey Lils, what up? It has been a while ehh?" Dorcas said. Dorcas Meadows was a seventeen-year-old witch and she excelled in her classes at Hogwarts. Her dream was to become an Auror, and she was well on her way to becoming one because she took all N.E.W.T classes and was in the top five students in each and every one of them. Dorcas had medium length curly dirty blonde hair, and black glasses framed her round face. She also had a more muscular build than most girls, and boys for that matter. Dorcas and Lily had been friends since their first day at Hogwarts, and they both shared a loathing for the Marauders. Dorcas had a more neutral temper, and normally was the last one to lose her cool in tough situations. Her preferred method of attack was mentally beating down her opponent, but when push came to shove she made a deadly foe and her wand could cause serious and often irreparable damage to her opponent. Despite being muggle born, Dorcas' wand could cause almost more damage than the purest of blood. However a redeeming trait about Dorcas was she had a great sense of humor, and was often the one who came up with ideas to get revenge on the Marauders for when the played their pranks on them.  
  
"Thank God you guys are here. I don't know how much more of this I could handle," Lily said as she took another bear hug from her other best friend, Anthy.  
  
Anthy Simmons was a half Greek witch, and her parents at one point lived in Greece. Her father had once been the Minister of Magic for Greece, and then he meet Anthy's mother, who was British. Anthy had lived in Greece until she was around twelve and in the process to moving to Britain she turned thirteen and was enrolled in Hogwarts. She transferred in Lily and Dorcas' third year around Halloween. Despite her heritage, Anthy had her mother's ebony hair and long face. However, from her father she inherited her large blue eyes and tall and slender build. Anthy had a more gothic demeanor which drove away most people, but she made a very loyal friend. Once you got past her tough, and rather scary, exterior her interior was very fragile and she built up walls of ice to protect herself from being hurt. Anthy too was in the top of her classes, but she didn't strive for greatness like Lily and Dorcas. Anthy had never studied in her life, and always maintained, somewhat miraculously, a B to an A- average in all of her classes. Anthy, like Lily, had a short temper and her fuse was easily lit but instead of firing back with insults, Anthy said screw formality, and launched her fists at her opponent. She only ever showed her true nature to anyone, which was a fun-loving artisan who cared deeply about her friends. Anthy had a certain dislike for the Marauders, although she seemed to get along with them fine. She said that the Marauders, and one of them in particular, gave off a deceivingly innocent aurora, and she never let her guard down. But then again that didn't surprise anyone; Anthy was so called, by other students anyway, the most beautiful rose with the deadliest thorns.  
  
After Dorcas and Anthy had both hugged Lily so hard that she had trouble breathing, the trio marched upstairs to catch up on the summer's events.  
  
(sorry, I do a lot of these, because this story gets rather complex in later chapters and this, as the prologue sets the basis for later chapters. Also, I am sorry to say, the Marauders will not make an appearance this chapter)  
  
Lord Voldemort was displeased, very displeased. He could not believe the incompetence of his so-called Death Eaters and loyal followers. For months he had been planning an attack on Hogwarts, and a chance to kill that great fool, Dumbledore, but his Death Eaters had failed to give him the information that he so needed. Even the spies he had at Hogwarts, and close to the pureblooded families had failed to provide him with the proper information that he needed. Voldemort knew that within the Chamber of Secrets a hidden pathway led out of the school and into Hogsmead. But as a teenager he had failed to further investigate that path because Dumbledore had kept a close eye on him and any further investigation in the Chamber of Secrets was futile, less Dumbledore would discover his precious plans. It vexed him to no end that even the most loyal of servants could not even find the path that led into the Chamber. He doubted that many of them had even tried because the certain death of the Basilisk's eye awaited them. But didn't his most loyal Death Eaters swear a vow of loyalty? They should be willing to sacrifice their lives for the greater good, and the purification of the wizarding race.  
  
The Dark Lord was currently located in the inner-most depths of the Forbidden Forest, and doubted that even the fool of a gamekeeper, Hagrid, even knew how far into the Forest that he had chosen to hide. Just on the other side of the forest was a pub, a dark one, where the most evil of witches and wizards chose as their hideout. Only those of the Dark knew its exact location, and even the name of it. It was the same pub where Bertha Jorkins would meet her doom many years later, but that is a different story.  
  
Out of sheer anger and frustration, Lord Voldemort began to pace back and forth and a raging fire was burning in his crimson, serpentine eyes. He felt like killing something, or someone. He didn't care what it was. Even if it turned out to be a fellow Death Eater he wouldn't care because they had let him down so many times he felt as if they should die at his hand. The snap of a twig triggered a violent surge of green light, and the curse struck whatever it was that had made the sound. Lord Voldemort traveled over to the broken body. He sighed out of frustration; it was only a giant spider. 'Most likely the offspring of that idiotic lout's pet, Aragog', Voldemort thought to himself, smiling at the thought. Those were good times, when he was at Hogwarts. Away from his bastard of a father, and the hellhole orphanage that he was forced into.  
  
Sick and tired of waiting, Voldemort made is way back out of the Forest, not making a sound as he marched through the trees and shrubs. Anger still made his blood boil, but with the death of that spider it meant the ventilation that he needed. After ten to fifteen minutes of walking he emerged on the other side of the forest and took a seat on the cool, wet grass, not really caring that he was dirtying up his cloak. He leaned up against a mighty willow tree on the outskirts of the forest and began to think. It was times like these that Voldemort loved. Time to just think, without the bother of his plans for world domination and the death of his greatest obstacle, Albus Dumbledore.  
  
Soon his mind began to wander, and it made its way to many things and not all of them were clear. Flashes of many events went through his mind, and it was there where he found sanctuary. But his thoughts were soon cut off when one of his loyal followers was spotted at the edge of the woods. Lord Voldemort rose to his feet and made a signal for his minion to speak. "I have good new for you my lord," the voice said. It was undoubtedly feminine. The figure soon stepped out of the shadow of the wood and the face belonging to the figure was that of Bellatrix Black. Not yet a Death Eater, but well on her way to becoming one. She was far more informative that some of his highest servants because of the fact that she attended Hogwarts and could give him information that others couldn't.  
  
"Speak Miss Black," Voldemort said with a small amount of interest in his voice.  
  
"My lord, as it turns out this year at Hogwarts a great event will take place, giving you ample opportunity to breach the security of Hogwarts and overthrow and kill that fool of a Headmaster," Bellatrix said catlike. "And my cousin, Sirius Black, as much a disgrace as he is, currently is living with the Potters and they have been on your death list for quite some time haven't they? I can give you information as to bring about their demise," she said with her smooth voice purring.  
  
"Well done Black. You have proved yourself more faithful than many of my other servants. Lord Voldemort will reward greatly for this," Voldemort hissed.  
  
"You need not reward me with anything except the downfall of Dumbledore, My Lord. You will always have my eternal service and loyalty," Bellatrix said.  
  
"Yes, Lord Voldemort will reward you well. Now continue with this so called opportunity that I will have to break into the castle".  
  
For many hours Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Black spoke into the night. Unaware of that they were being eavesdropped on.  
  
HA! Now how is THAT for a prologue? If that didn't get your attention that what in God's name will? This is one of my better prologues, and I am somewhat proud of it. I will hopefully be getting the next chapter out before I go to Colorado Springs. If not, I promise you the next chapter will be up by next Friday, two days after I get back.  
  
Reviews will urge my will to write the next chapter. The more reviews= the faster the next chapter comes out.  
  
Flames will be laughed at, and then deleted. But the after effect will be I will not write the next chapter for a day. So for every flame I receive means a day the next chapter will be delayed. Muahahahahahahahahahahah.  
  
Bye Bye. 


	2. The Hogwarts Express

Thanks for returning. Here is the first chapter in my story, A Rose among Thorns. By the way, I did describe my original character, Anthy, like that but she doesn't have anything to do with the title. Oh yeah, and because I am just so mean, I refuse to say who was eavesdropped Voldemort and Bellatrix until the revelation chapter, which is many a chapter away. I will give you hints along the way, and if you have any ideas, who it may be, let me know. I will tell you if you are correct or not. By the way, Dorcas is not an original character. She is briefly mentioned in the Order of the Pheonix. In the chapter, The Woes of Mrs. Weasley, Moody is showing Harry the picture of the original order and Dorcas is one of the witches he mentioned. According to Moody she was murdered by Voldemort personally, so that implies that she was a major member of the Order and this is my own version of what happened. Sorry this is a little late coming out; life is once again getting in the way. Stupid Colorado Springs. I don't want to go, but out of love for my brother I am forcing myself to go. Ughh.  
  
By the way Malfoy is six years older than the Marauders. Rowling said that Snape is 35 and that Malfoy Sr. is 41. Malfoy will not make an appearance in the first part of this fic, due to the fact that he has already graduated Hogwarts. And one other thing, James is CHASER. I know that the movie had James as a Seeker, but James is a CHASER. Rowling said in an interview that he was not a seeker but a Chaser.  
  
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the wonderful J.K Rowling. I own nothing. If you accuse of owning it I will curse you with images of Filch in a thong that will never leave your head. MWUAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry, l loves that world.  
  
Since I made no appearance of the Marauders in the last chapter, they will be very involved with this one. Enjoy...  
  
The sun was shining at Kings Cross Station in London. Students from all around England and Britain were crowding around platforms nine and ten, and more waiting for their chance to make it to Platform 9 ¾ to catch the Hogwarts Express before eleven-o-clock. Flocks of students quickly passed between the barriers without any attention. It wasn't a difficult task, really. Muggles were so caught up in their own problems about not being late they wouldn't notice anything besides the large hand on their watches. But that was a good thing; it made getting through the barrier all the easier. James Potter and Sirius Black were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Remus Lupin. They had less than fifteen minutes until the train left, and Remus was more than a little late. They normally were seated on the trait and complaining that it didn't leave early enough, but now the pair of troublemakers were great full that the train didn't even sound its whistle until eleven-o-clock. "What is taking Moony so long," James said.  
  
"Dunno. Maybe he got caught up in checking out the girls like you always do, Prongs," Sirius said.  
  
"Oh shut up. And besides I don't check out all the girls. As a matter of fact I was only looking for one girl in particular, Padfoot," James responded with a fake look of insult on his face.  
  
"Gee, I wonder which one you were looking for. The tall one with legs so long they would make a sailor blush, with hair that is deep red, long, thick and rich. And I reckon this girl also has green eyes that could knock a guy out cold if she looked at them the right way," Sirius said.  
  
"How could I be that obvious?"  
  
"Well, when your best mate has been having dreams, wet dreams I may add, of snogging this particular girl it isn't that hard to tell. Especially after the Snivellus incident back in fifth year," Sirius said matter-of-factly.  
  
"I have NOT been having wet dreams about Evans," James said. Truth be told, he had been having dreams about her but Sirius didn't need to know that. Actually, James had been infatuated with Lily Evans since his second year, but every time he asked her out it usually ended up with Lily calling him a dog, cursing his existence, and another all out war of name calling. But that was what he loved about his Lily Flower. The fire she had in her soul was intoxicating. It was enough to make any man swoon for her affection, even when he was pre-puberty back in his second year. What was more was the fact that her eyes reflected every single emotion going through her head, and there was a constant flame dancing in them. Though it was true that her temper was the same color as her hair.  
  
"Right mate. And pigs fly," Sirius said.  
  
"When we get back to Hogwarts shall I demonstrate? I am sure that Hagrid will be more than likely to let me borrow one, and with a simple swish and flick of the wrist and the phrase 'Wingardium Leviosa' that pig will be ten feet off the ground," James said.  
  
"Then how about this; the day that pigs fly WITHOUT magic is the day that you haven't been having wet dreams about our little flower," Sirius retaliated. True James was his best friend in the existence of the world, but after six years of having his best friend drool whenever the mere name of Lily Evans was mentioned Sirius was ready for the two to just get together and he wouldn't have to ever hear about it again.  
  
"And which little flower are you two talking about," came a voice from behind James and Sirius.  
  
"Moony old chap, where have you been? The train leaves in seven minutes," Sirius said in an almost gentlemanly fashion.  
  
"Having to travel the muggle way is slow and not fun at all. Plus I forgot to pack my trunk last night," Lupin said. "Where is Wormtail?"  
  
"We suspect that Wormtail is saving our back compartment like he dose every year. Poor peter, he really needs to get out more," James said with fake sympathy. (A/N: I hate Peter, and I show the little betraying, evil, conniving, sick, short, fat, ugly, moronic, Son of a bitch no sympathy. So I may slip in some crude comments here and there, sorry out there to all of you Peter fans. I just really don't like him. And for the record, there is some Peter bashing later on, but is much much later on and I will warn you when it comes up)  
  
The trio hurriedly ran through the barrier to platform 9 ¾ and quickly found their usual compartment empty except for little Peter Pettigrew. Peter, as usual, had a Chocolate Frog card in one hand, and melted chocolate covered the other and his mouth. "No offence Wormtail, but you really need to work on your eating skills," Remus remarked. James and Sirius just laughed.  
  
For the next half an hour, the Marauders talked in peace and caught up with each other the events over the summer. Peter hadn't really partaken of anything during his vacation, so he had the least to say. Remus of course spent a good bit of it studying, but he managed to go out with a fellow witch for two weeks before she found out about his secret and dumped him. Remus wasn't too fussed about it because she had a good heart and promised that she wouldn't tell anyone about the fact of him being a Werewolf. Sirius moved out of number 12 Grimwauld and hade made a temporary home at Mr. and Mrs. Potters. According to Sirius he couldn't take his parents, and his whole family for that matter, with all their 'pureblood' mania. He also made mention that his cousin, Bellatrix was up to something and he didn't really want to know what. James of course had more stories to tell than anyone. His family was wealthy, and often they would take trips around Britain, and at one point they visited America. That year his family traveled to Transylvania and, according to James, he had fed off fifteen blood thirsty vampires with only his wand! Sirius, Remus, and Peter knew it was a lie but they followed along with James' 'story of adventure' and they made a few jokes along the way. The jubilant mood however was short-lived because a group of Slytherins who worshiped Voldemort and his cause came into the Marauder's compartment.  
  
It was Rodulphos Lestrange, Bellatrix Black, two blokes by the name of Crabbe and Goyle (a/n: anyone know what their names were?), Theodore Nott (or Theodore Nott Senior as he would be when his son was born), and of course Severus Snape. Everyone at Hogwarts knew that the group of them was nothing but bad news, and if you messed with them you would always have to pay the piper. Rodulphos and Bellatrix were considered the ringleaders, Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle were just the middle guys, and Snape was the so- called loner with a deadly look in his cold black eyes. Bellatrix was the one who spoke first, "so dear cousin, I see this is where you have been hiding. You disgrace the name of Black," she insulted his cousin. Bellatrix considered, along with the rest of the Blacks, Sirius a traitor; a loathsome mudblood lover and a shame of his mother's flesh. It was that which sent Sirius over the edge and forced him to leave. Throughout the summer, Bellatrix had been haunting Sirius for information to convey to the Dark Lord. Naturally she didn't get much with Sirius leaving, luckily for them, so she resorted to taunting him hoping to bring out his temper and he would unknowingly say something that seal his fate.  
  
"I never wanted the name of Black in the first place. Now GET OUT!" Sirius shouted at the top of his lungs, with rage and venom in his voice.  
  
"Yes we would but we find taunting you four idiots more fun," Rodulphos said.  
  
"Listen, unless you want me to hex you guys straight to Hell I suggest you get out," James threatened. Dark magic was one of the few things in life that he hated with a blazing passion, and those six people where the very embodiment of dark magic.  
  
"Come on Potter. If you want to hex us than by all means, do so," Bellatrix mocked.  
  
"Bring it on bitch! You are the true disgrace, not me," Sirius exclaimed rising to his feet.  
  
"James, Sirius calm down. Lestrange, Black, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Snape please leave. I don't want to fight with you. Please go," Remus said. Everyone looked at Remus. It was not in his calm nature to speak up when his two best friends were arguing with future Death Eaters. The overall politeness of his voice seemed to get through to Bellatrix and her gang more than James and his threats ever did. Then, without a word the six of them disappeared into the adjacent cart.  
  
The beautiful English countryside sped away as the train traveled further and further north. Soon the weather became colder and wet. A slight drizzle began, and the rain drops tapped the glass windows of the Hogwarts express. The Marauders become suddenly silent, which for them was an unusual occurrence. But the rain broke the silence, and Peter was the first one to speak up, "Anyone for a game of Wizard's Chess?"  
  
"Sure, I'll have a go at it," Sirius said.  
  
"Only because you know that you'll beat Wormtail. He hasn't won a single game of Chess against you in all his years at Hogwarts," Remus remarked playfully (a/n: not THAT way all you PERVERTS)  
  
"Who knows, maybe the millionth game is the charm," Peter said.  
  
As Sirius and Peter began to play Chess, James unraveled a clipping of the Daily Prophet that his father had sent to him. Dominic Potter was an Auror and an elite one at that. He was one of the Minister's top men, and he was often kept busy with work, and his work often took him overseas. The only real way that he had to communicate with his family was by sending them clippings of his recent events. He couldn't send an Owl, because his work was so secret that the risk of the Owl being intercepted was very great. He very rarely returned to Britain to see his family, so it was the best thing he could do.  
  
James looked at the article and began to read...  
  
MAJOR BREAKOUT OF DARK WIZARDS IN IERLAND AND GREENLAND  
  
As reports Daily Prophet reporter, Rita Skeeter. Lately in the goings on of Ireland and Greenland it is suspect that the Dark Wizard, He-who-must-not- be-named has taken it upon himself to recruit more fellow members (commonly called Death Eaters) to his aid. The Aurors of Britain, Ireland, and Greenland had come together to defeat this evil tyrants, among them the top notch Auror Dominic James Potter. Recent events have suggested...  
  
James stopped reading the article. It was just as all of the others had been, blank and didn't really tell him of his father's situation. James sighed and went back to day dreaming about a certain red haired witch with amazingly green eyes.  
  
About half an hour later, Peter had lost almost all of his pieces and all that remained was two pawns, one useless bishop and his king. "Maybe the millionth time isn't the charm," Peter whined.  
  
"Oh come on Wormtail. It could be worse. Last time I had you in check in three moves," Sirius said grinning. He looked over at his best friend and found him asleep. "Oi Prongs, wake up," he yelled at the top of his lungs  
  
James did nothing but let out a groan and rolled his head facing away from Sirius.  
  
"Either he has died, or is dreaming about Lily," Sirius said.  
  
"This calls from a drastic measure," said Remus.  
  
"What exactly do you have in mind?" said Sirius  
  
"You'll see," Remus said with a smirk. He went over to James and yelled directly in his ear, "PRONGS WAKE UP! LILY EVANS IS NAKED AND SHE WANTS TO SEE YOU!" Sirius, Remus and Peter went into a fit of hysterics because at that James' hazel eyes shot up and we was as alert as anyone had seen him.  
  
"Lily? Where?" but then it hit him almost as hard as the visual Remus gave him. "You guys...," he grumbled. With that he sprang on Remus in an attempt to cause him as much pain as humanly possible without earning a life sentence to Azkaban.  
  
"Okay, okay, your point was made and it has been taken," Remus said. James got off of him and gave a big goofy smile.  
  
The remainder of the trip went on without much incident. When looking for the food cart James ran across Lily and asked her out again, this only resulted in a rather painful smack across his face. On his way back to his compartment he came across Severus Snape who was looking greasy as usual. James did nothing but give him the 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' look. True that James didn't hate Snape to the degree that he hated the others in the group, but the malcontent between the two was unmistakable. When it came down to the bone, Sirius was the one who hated Snape more than any other living being on earth. Often it was Sirius who came up with the often cruel tricks to keep Snape down. James too took pride in them, but his dislike for Snape didn't come anywhere near the level that Sirius felt for him.  
  
"After your mudblood again Potter," Severus snarled. It was more of a statement than a question.  
  
"Don't call her that you bastard," James said with even more venom in his voice.  
  
"Mudbloods are nothing but a weakness, as you will soon know," said the hook nosed teenager.  
  
James was about to spring himself upon Snape, but as Bellatrix and Rodulphos came into view he decided against his gut instinct to leave the greasy bastard alone.  
  
Slowly the Hogwarts Express pulled up at the Hogsmead station. The rain had stopped but it was still cold and sticky outside from the lingering humidity. Lily looked outside of her compartment window and excitement filled the pit of her belly at seeing the magnificent castle again. It was like seeing a long missed friend after years of separation. At the same time Lily also felt some sadness at never seeing the castle again after that year unless she perused a teaching career, which was not what she wanted to do with her life. Like Dorcas, Lily wanted to become an Auror. Already changed into her school uniform, she let out a large sigh and grabbed her large cat and stuffed him into him.  
  
Lily's friends often made fun of her because of the cat's name, Nenya. It was a female sounding name but she gave it to a male calico cat. Nenya seemed to fit her cat, because he was swift and his eyes were pure white which gave off an almost elvish aurora. So Nenya it was, and Lily never thought of changing it, though it was mainly because she was too stubborn to change it. Lily's train of thought came to an abrupt stop because Dorcas and Anthy had burst into the compartment. A wave of happiness hit Lily and a smile from ear to ear was showing. With Nenya in hand Lily, Dorcas, and Anthy want outside to hurry up and get a carriage.  
  
Once out of the stuffy train Lily took in a refreshing breath of air. Over the bustling of other Hogwarts students they could hear the booming voice of the gamekeeper, Hagrid. "Firs' years over 'ere! Firs' years, come on now don't be shy". Lily waved hi to Hagrid but he was so preoccupied with the terrified looking group of first years that she didn't get a response. Lily just muttered 'oh well' to herself and went on with Dorcas and Anthy to get a carriage. Despite the humid weather outside Anthy wore a long sleeved shirt under her uniform, no one really understood why she always wore long sleeves except for Lily and Dorcas. Anthy, as a child had gotten a large scar across her arm and she never showed it off, or that was what Anthy said.  
  
As always a large group of comfy carriages, each with the Hogwarts Coat of Arms painted on, awaited the students. "I wonder what those strange horses are?" said Anthy. Lily and Dorcas looked at her in confusion. There were no horses to be seen.  
  
"Anthy, what do you mean? There are no horses," Dorcas said.  
  
"You mean you don't see them?" Anthy exclaimed.  
  
"I don't see anything besides the carriages and the Marauders scarring the wits out of some second years to get a carriage. Nothing out of the ordinary with that," Dorcas said again.  
  
Lily had an idea, but she wasn't sure. "What do they look like," she said. Lily knew from Hagrid that a type of flying horse called a Thestral that pulled the carriages, but they could only be seen by one who saw death. Surely if Anthy had seen anything like that she would tell her [Lily] and Dorcas about it. It was true that her friend had a lot of secrets but surely nothing that bad.  
  
"They are black, and it looks like they have no flesh, just bones covered with thick black hair. And they have white eyes with no pupils, and leathery wings," Anthy said.  
  
"Well that explains it! Hagrid said that Threstrals pull the school carriages and...," Lily said, but she was cut off because Anthy had already went into the nearest carriage with Dorcas following, and the two were yelling at Lily to hurry up and get inside.  
  
The Great Hall was decked out in its usual splendor. The ceiling was glistening with stars and the occasional rain cloud, and the House Banners were hung. A Golden banner with a scarlet lion for Gryffindor, Green with a silver serpent for Slytherin, Bronze with a blue eagle for Ravenclaw, and Yellow with a black badger from Hufflepuff hung above the house tables. Lily, Dorcas and Anthy all went to the table on the far left, the Gryffindor table. All of them were extremely hungry because the only source of food they had on the long trip were some Chocolate Frogs. Lily sat next to Dorcas, who was sitting across from Anthy. They chatted excitedly about the coming year.  
  
Lily was in all N.E.W.T classes, and she surprised even herself when she passed her O.W.L for Transfiguration with an E (Exceeds Expectations). True she had studied her ass off to get the high grade, but she remained surprised none-the-less. With her career ambition as high as to be an Auror she had to keep top grades, and good conduct. That year Lily had been rewarded with the status as a Head Girl. Naturally Lily was ecstatic about the position, but upon reading the rest of her letter she found out that James was the Head Boy. Lily had vowed not to let that prat get in the way of her duties and grades, but she knew truthfully that she was in for one hell of a ride for her seventh and final year at Hogwarts.  
  
Dorcas took N.E.W.T courses for all but two of her subjects; Potions and Charms. She too wanted to be an Auror was hell bent on becoming one. Though she didn't take N.E.W.T courses, she still had a good chance of fulfilling her dream because all she needed was to score an E on all of her N.E.W.T exams. Anthy didn't really know what to do with her life, so what her class scores were didn't matter a rat's ass. She took only four N.E.W.T classes, and that alone was an extraordinary feat, but she paid no attention to it really.  
  
All of them were engulfed in friendly chatter until the infamous Marauders took their seat which happened to be right next to Lily and her friends. All three girls threw them cold looks, but they only received goofy grins in return, and Lily in particular got the most charming grin she had ever seen in her life, and it was almost cute enough to crack the first layer of ice she felt for James Potter. But all she had to do was remind herself of all the pranks he had played on her during the previous years and two more layers of ice grew. On the other hand, Lily did have to admit that James was the most attractive guy she had met during her 17 years of life. He had perfect tan skin and messy jet-black hair that gave him a charming boyish look. Glasses framed his hazel eyes that any girl could lose themselves in. Even Lily had caught herself staring into his eyes, the beautiful mixture of honey, cinnamon, and the evening sunset gave them a captivating look.  
  
The entire Great Hall was busy with talkative students, but the chatter died down as soon as headmaster Albus Dumbledore stood up to give his annual speech. "Students, old and new welcome to yet another busy year at Hogwarts. I have some start-of-term announcements to make. First off, to our new young students the Forbidden Forest will always be just that, Forbidden, but I disarray that I must remind some of the older students," his twinkling blue eyes fell on James and Sirius, "and that the village of Hogsmead is banned to all students below the third year. I must also say that due to the dark events of recent times certain...precautions will be taken at Hogwarts. On one final note I am happy to say that the new Head Boy and Girl for the year are none other than Mister James Potter and Miss Lily Evans, lets give them both a round of applause,"  
  
Lily stood up with a red face, embarrassed at the sudden mention of her name. She usually kept to herself and for her name to be mentioned like that in front of everyone was pure torture. James on the other hand seemed to be enjoying the attention. He was waving to the crowd like it was no big deal. All of the girls at the school openly gawked at James, and Lily received a few cat-calls. The school had burst into applause, but within two minutes it died down again when Dumbledore cleared his throat, "with all that said, let the sorting being".  
  
Professor McGonagall appeared and she carried with her a ragged torn wizarding hat, and a stool. She placed the hat on top of the stool and a seam had split and the hat began singing its song before all of the students.  
  
When Hogwarts School was born And I was newly sewn... (A/n: I am in no mood to write an entire school song, because as much as I love to write I HATE poetry. I am good at it, but I HATE it).  
  
Several minutes later the song ended and the school broke into applause again. Professor McGonagall pulled out a bit of parchment that seemed to come out of nowhere and she began reading names...  
  
"Adams, Evetta" slowly stepped forward with fright clearly on the little blonde girl's face. She nervously went onto the stool and the hat was placed on her head. The hat had barely touched her head before it screamed out "RAVENCLAW". The table to the right of the Gryffindor broke out in cheers as the welcomed their newest member.  
  
James laughed to himself with the look on Adams, Evetta's face as she walked up. It reminded him so much of what Lily looked life. She was a muggle born and so was crippled with fear when she first stepped up. However then, he had only been eleven and was not capable to appreciate the full value of the female sex, but he could not help notice that she was really cute and had pretty eyes. Now when he looked at his flower she had blossomed into a beautiful young woman. Since the previous year, he and Lily had been on somewhat better terms than they had been. It was dawn and Lily happened to wake up early in the common room when James and the others had burst in with Remus. By that time Lily had already known for two years that Remus was a werewolf, but what she didn't know was that James, Sirius, and Peter would sneak out with him. Ever since then, Lily looked at him differently, almost admiring the risk he was going through for his best friend, or rather his other best friend. James' admiration and feelings for Lily had only grown since then, but she still wouldn't go out with him and he couldn't understand why. For the past four months he hadn't cured Snape or her, and for James that was a big improvement over how things had been. But this year would be different he vowed to himself as he sat watching Black, Nymphadora being sorted into Gryffindor.  
  
James threw a quick glance at Sirius, but he warmly welcomed his cousin. Apparently she was the only other member of the Black Family that Sirius could get along with and only the second in the Black History to ever be sorted into a house other than Slytherin. James gave his Lily-flower another grin but she only glared at him with an un-readable look and James decided to give her a hurt expression. 'Oh yes, this is going to be quite the year,' James thought silently to himself.  
  
End Chapter. Not the best. For the record, I started this two hours before I had to leave for Colorado Springs, I was gone to Colorado Springs for four days and I only got back two days ago, so this isn't half bad. I couldn't use the computer the first day I was back because there was a storm which blew the power, the second day I was celebrating my brother's collage graduation, and unpacking. Today I saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (pretty good, but Gary Oldman just isn't my choice as Sirius and the movie didn't even make the Patronus of a wizard in ANY animal form. It is just a silver shield, and it didn't take the form of an animal like it should in the books. That pissed me off. And the didn't say who wrote the Marauder's Map either), then I watched the Return of the King with my family, so I spent the rest of the night working on my story just like I promised.  
  
I also gave you two MAJOR clues to something in this chapter. If you have any ideas let me know, and I will lead you on the right path. I still haven't got anyone who has guessed who is overhearing Voldemort and Bellatrix. It isn't that hard, and I will tell you that it is NOT Snape, Peter, Malfoy or any other Death Eater. Come on people, think about it. It isn't that hard. Remember, reviews give me oomph to write faster. Any and all flames will be read, laughed at and deleted. 0.  
  
Review please, and you can also e-mail at geishaofrohanyahoo.com AND elvenyoukaiyahoo.com 


	3. First Day Back

Thank you all who have stuck with it. Welcome to Chapter 3, or two (whichever, if you include the prologue or not). Sorry I haven't updated this sooner, but as soon as I started working on this I ended up going to my grandparents' house in Ruidoso, and their computer was in the shop. That is why this chapter took a bit longer to write that what I had originally hoped.  
  
By the way, just because I felt like saying this; I never originally meant to put in the Threstrals in chapter two, but I couldn't avoid it. I personally hate it when I do stupid stuff like add random crap in, but it dose play SOMEWHAT of a part later on, so I had to do it. I hated it though, and reading over I noticed that it is poorly written. Oh well.  
  
On another completely different note, I love doing art commissions because I get $$$$$$$. I currently have forty dollars in cash which I intend to kill at Suncoast on episodes of Outlaw Star OVA. I am so happy, because I spend money as soon as I earn it and I hardly ever have over fifteen dollars at any given moment, so I am happy. And I cleaned my room, which for me is a big achievement, and all my anime posters are right in front of my computer as well as my Inu-Yasha wall scroll. It has all of the villains surrounding Inu-Yasha who is holding Tessaiga with Kagome. Around it are Naraku, Sesshomaru, Kikyou, Kouga, Kohaku, Kanna, and Kagura.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All is property of J.K Rowling, the literary genius who is responsible for my addiction to Harry Potter. And just for the record, the character Dorcas Meadows is property of Rowling as well because she mentioned her in OotP, in the chapter The Woes of Mrs. Weasley. She is in the picture that Moody shows Harry of the original Order of the Pheonix, according to Moody Voldemort murdered her personally.   
  
As always the Great Hall was full of chattering students on the first day of the new term. Students everywhere were talking among their friends about the year ahead of them. Lily, Dorcas and Anthy were no exception to that. The three of them were conversing about what happened during each other's summer vacation. Dorcas had traveled with her family to America and spent the rest of the summer baby sitting her little sister, Jesse. Anthy didn't really have much to say on the matter; all she mentioned was that she visited Greece like she did every summer with her family. Lily didn't really feel like talking about the incident during her summer vacation with Petunia and Vernon, so she didn't indulge herself on Dorcas and Anthy's conversation.  
  
But Lily did have an adventure, so to speak, over her summer vacation. Her family went camping in the woods as 'family bonding time' as her Lily's father put it. The trip couldn't have been worse. Petunia complained about having to sleep on the ground. The tents were all infested with mosquitoes, and she had to endure four days without taking a shower. Then the family tried to go fishing, but a park ranger had spotted them and informed them that they lake they were camping by was polluted, so for two days in a row Lily ate nothing but baked beans. Then because of the baked beans she got a bad case of an upset stomach, so during the night she would have to sneak off to 'relieve' herself without Petunia nagging at her. When she was deep enough into the woods that she was satisfied, Lily had her own dark encounter, which nearly cost her life. It was not something she wanted to repeat ever again, nor did she want to think about. But then an unfamiliar face caught Lily's eyes at the staff table.  
  
Lily gazed up at the staff table; Professor Dumbledore was sitting in the middle as usual, and by his side was an empty seat where Professor McGonagall sat but she was giving out course schedules. Professor Flitwick was having an avid conversation with the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Kettleburn. Potions teacher, Professor Flynn, was talking with the gamekeeper, Hagrid. The Defense against Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lantis, hadn't shown up yet. It seemed that the new Airthmency teacher, Professor Vector, had arrived. She was a long and lanky Asian looking witch. She wore long purple robes and a pointed purple hat with a peacock feather sticking out it. Everything looked normal at the staff table, but Lily's attention was drawn by Professor McGonagall who handed her her new schedule for the year. Lily thanked her and looked down at her schedule.  
  
MONDAY N.E.W.T Transfiguration Double N.E.W.T Charms Lunch Double Potions Astronomy  
  
Lily let out a groan upon looking at her schedule. Transfiguration, Potions and Astronomy all in one day would mean pure torture. Transfiguration was the one subject that she struggled with, and most of her study efforts went into Transfiguration. Potions wasn't a joy to go to because Professor Lantis loathed all of his students equally, and was the most hated teacher in Hogwarts. And Astronomy would mean that she would be up to 1:30 AM which meant she wouldn't get any sleep. The only good thing about her schedule was the fact that she had Double Charms. Charms was easily her best subject and she was the top in class. James Potter himself couldn't compare to Lily's talent in Charms, and it was one of the few things she highly prized herself on.  
  
"What do you think Lily?"  
  
"Who? What?" Lily said. She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts the conversation between Dorcas and Anthy was the farthest thing from her mind until Dorcas caught her attention.  
  
"Weren't you listening at all," Dorcas said.  
  
"To be perfectly honest, no," Lily said with a smile. The three of them laughed at that comment.  
  
Across the table sat the Marauders. All of them seemed to be laughing at some particularly clever joke made by James. Lily glanced over at them, and was greeted by James' goofy grin. James got up from his seat and walked over to where Lily was sitting.  
  
"So how was my flower's summer," he said.  
  
Lily could feel her temper rising. She had to keep it under control, if it was the last thing she ever did. Her position was Head Girl was dependent on it, the previous year her Head Girl badge had been revoked because she had completely lost her temper and jinxed James' broom to shoot off fireworks, and spin uncontrollably.  
  
"Potter, go screw off. I am not in the mood to deal with you this early in the morning," Lily said.  
  
"This early in the morning? It is already past eight, it isn't early," James teased.  
  
"Potter just go away,"  
  
"No,"  
  
"Do you have to be a pain in the ass?"  
  
"Yes I do"  
  
At that, Lily rose from her seat and was at eye level to James. She just glared at him with her green eyes which were reflecting every emotion that coursed through her veins. In a flash she pulled her wand from the inside of her robes and was aiming it at James. Silence surrounded the area where Lily was threatening James. Under normal circumstances she didn't pull her wand on him unless he had done something to piss her off beyond all control. There were only two other times when Lily had pulled her wand on anyone; the first was during their fifth year and James was bullying Snape, and the other time was the previous year when James had cursed her cat to be Slytherin green and refused to do the counter curse until Lily said she would go out with him. At that point Lily cursed James so that his nose sang "I Love Severus Snape" in a shrill opera like voice. Needless to say, both of them had gotten detention and fifteen points from Gryffindor.  
  
"Potter. Evans. What is going on here?" came the voice of Professor McGonagall.  
  
Lily immediately lowered he wand. She didn't want to get on the bad side of McGonagall, especially when she had Transfiguration first thing in the morning. James grinned, a soft sort of grin and went back to his seat between Sirius and Remus. Lily also reluctantly sat back down between Dorcas and Anthy. Satisfied, Professor McGonagall went back to handing out course schedules.  
  
Once the bell had rung, the students dispersed to their classes. James made his way up to the Transfiguration corridor. He walked in silence, wondering why Lily had been so cold. She normally was quite friendly until he pulled the first prank, and then it was pure hell between them. But at breakfast all he had to do was look at her the wrong way and her wand was at his throat. She seemed far more tense than usual as if something terrible had happened, and her eyes reflected nothing but coldness. They normally were dazzling and sparkling as much as Dumbledore's eyes. It was enough for anyone to be concerned, well anyone other than the Slytherins.  
  
Just before reaching the Transfiguration room the Marauders were stopped by a group of scared looking first years. They were apparently lost and wanted directions. James' mood was immediately lifted. Some first year mayhem was just what he needed to get his mind off of Evans. He asked them, "Hey, where are you going?"  
  
"The Charms corridor," said a nervous looking girl wearing blonde pig tails.  
  
"The Charms corridor, that is easy. All you have to do is..." Remus began but was cut off by James  
  
"Go down the stairs, turn left at the picture of the witch wearing a stuffed fox on her hat. Go down another flight of stairs and you will find it behind a tapestry of two giants beating each other to a pulp," James said with a smile. The first years thanked him and took off.  
  
"Prongs old man, you are a genius," Sirius said.  
  
"But didn't he just send them to..." Peter began. At that he turned the next corner and went to his class, Defense against Dark Arts. He was not talented enough to make it into McGonagall's N.E.W.T level Transfiguration.  
  
"To the vanishing cabinet on the third floor, yeah," James said.  
  
The four of them laughed. Even Remus got a good chuckle out of it. He knew that passage well, and it did indeed come out into Flitwick's class but when a student went through it they would become somewhat confused and think they are a teapot. The care taker had devised it that way so that any prowling night time students would be strongly persuaded not to use it. The Marauders tricked many first years into going into it, and anyone who had been at Hogwarts for a even a week knew better than to listen to anyone from the Marauders for advice.  
  
Once inside the Transfiguration room James and Sirius took their usual seats at the back of the class, and Remus sat up front. Peter, who was not especially talented in terms of magic, was still in basic Transfiguration. They still had several minutes before class started, so James took out a piece of fresh parchment and a new Eagle feather quill and began doodling. James had to give himself credit on being able to draw Quidditch balls; a big red circle for the Quaffle, a larger circle for the Bludgers, and one tiny circle with wing for the Snitch. He had doodled them so many times he prided himself on being able to draw a perfect circle. Students from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw began pouring inside the room, but no Lily. Dorcas and Anthy were already inside, but Lily wasn't with them, which was an unusual thing. She normally went everywhere with her two friends, even to the bathroom.  
  
Just before Professor McGonagall shut the door to signal the start of class, Lily burst in and hurriedly found a seat. McGonagall gave her a harsh look but kept silent as she took the only remaining seat, right smack dab in front of James. It was the seat she wanted to sit in least, but the only one available, and McGonagall would no sooner let her exchange seats than let her hair down from her tight bun.  
  
Class proceeded without much incident. James and Sirius took notes, and exchanged notes and didn't bother Lily one little bit. Professor McGonagall began the lesson by giving the entire class a lecture on their N.E.W.T exams at the end of the year. She informed them that those students who were still in her N.E.W.T level were the best students Hogwarts had to offer. At that she gave everyone an ordinary teapot and she instructed them to transfigure it to any animal of their choice, but it had to be a mammal or reptile.  
  
By the end of class, only three people were given extra homework. Sirius had a raccoon sitting on his desk busily chewing on his parchment. James chose a Gecko (not Geico, people) which he was absent mindedly bouncing in the air. Lily had a honey colored ferret.  
  
"Potter that is enough. I do remind you that your status as Head Boy is dependant on your ability to act your age," McGonagall snapped. "Homework, an essay explaining in detail the Cross Species Switching Spell, due Tuesday. That is all, you may go. Potter, Evans I need you to stay after class," With that the students nosily packed up their belongings and exited her class room. Lily signaled at Dorcas and Anthy to go ahead without her.  
  
When the class had exited Lily and James went up to McGonagall's desk. She gave them both a hard look and spoke, "Your demonstration this morning shows that you two will have to put in a good deal of work to keep your differences apart and work together. I have high expectations from the both of you so no excuses. I must also say that tonight there is to be a meeting with the Prefects in the library at eight-o-clock. You two are to explain their duties. You two also have the power to take away and add house points; don't abuse this for I will know if you do, "she added menacingly, "I must also say that because you two are in your final year you will be required to plan the graduation ball for seventh year students. You two will be responsible for everything, so I expect great things. I must say that with the talent of the infamous Potter and with the knowledge of Evans you two will make quite a stand. That is all. Go on, get to your next class, your teachers, Flitwick I believe, knows that you are to be late and you are excused," she said simply and shooed them off.  
  
Both Lily and James took off in the direction to Double Charms. James seemed to be walking unnaturally slow.  
  
"Potter could you move a little faster," Lily said in a tone that was, for once, not insulting.  
  
"Sure thing," James said quietly. After what happened at breakfast he didn't want to upset her again and draw out her wrath.  
  
"James, listen I am sorry about this morning," Lily said quietly. She felt terrible afterwards and she did at least owe him an apology, after pulling her wand on him.  
  
"No problem. It is not like it's the first time you have done that," James said while grinning. He was somewhat taken aback, because that was the first time she had ever heard her say his first name without a note of disgust in her voice.  
  
"Listen since we are going to be working together I suggest that we put aside our differences like McGonagall," Lily said.  
  
"Well it is not as if I don't like you. I have been trying to 'put aside our differences' since third year," James said with a laugh. His third year was the year when he had first asked her out. He remembered how red her face had shown, and steam seemed to be pouring out of her ears. Her face seemed to blend in perfectly with her dark red hair.  
  
Lily laughed at the comment. It was the first true laugh she had in a while. He may be a pompous ass, but at least he is a funny one an attractive one Lily thought to herself. The two made their way into charms and Flitwick welcomed them. James took his usual seat between Sirius and Remus and Lily sat between Dorcas and Anthy.  
  
Like McGonagall, Flitwick began with lecturing them about their N.E.W.T exams at the end of the year, but Lily was not listening. She was wondering why she had not insulted and/or slapped James when they had walked to Charms together. Why would he suddenly be somewhat hospitable to her? In the past he always tended to act like a complete ass when she was around. What was worse, she actually thought of him in good respect for a moment. The million burning suns of hatred she had for him were beginning to burn out. While Flitwick continued to ramble on about N.E.W.T exams, Dorcas had passed her a note.  
  
Hey Lils, what has been going on? You were in a shitty mood during breakfast and then you nearly slaughter Potter. Not to mention why did McGonagall keep you back?  
  
Lily took out a quill and wrote  
  
Nothing is wrong. Just the usual stress from life, that's all. And McGonagall told me of my Head Girl duties, that is why she held me back. -Lily  
  
On and on the two went throughout the entire class session.  
  
Bullshit nothing is wrong. You have been acting funnier than usual. -Dorcas  
  
I take personal offence to that, for thinking that I would lie to my two best friends in the world -Lily  
  
Eventually Anthy got involved in the conversation.  
  
Then you would tell your best friends what the problem is -Anthy  
  
Hell, even before summer vacation you have been acting more moody that usual -Dorcas  
  
Damn it, will you two leave me the hell alone. I am FINE! -Lily  
  
On and on the three girls exchanged notes. By the end of the first half of Charms the three girls had to stop because Flitwick began giving out assignments. Like McGonagall he chose to review the material they learned the previous year as well. Naturally, Lily was the best in class and she was the only one not given extra homework. Even the three (remember, no Peter) Marauders got extra work, in which Lily's stomach gave a pleasurable squirm. She loved it when James was doing homework when she wasn't. It was truly a great feeling.  
  
SEVERAL hours later as the sun was setting, Lily was dreading her meeting with the Prefects and with James. Sure he had been nice to her, but who knew how long that act would last? It was only a matter of time before he started being his usual ass of a self. But Lily had other matters to worry about; she didn't know if she could confide to anyone about them. It was not only for the sake of her friends but also for her family, and all of Hogwarts. Lily sighed deeply and leaned farther back into her favorite chair in the Common Room.  
  
Flashback  
  
It was midnight in the woods that were rather close to Hogwarts. It was during her family camping trip, and of course she didn't tell her parents that Hogwarts was on the other side of the woods. Lily guessed that they were on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, but because many of the beasts in the forest refused to step onto non-magical soil her family was conciderably safe, besides she had her wand if anything did happen.  
  
It was the last night at the camp site, and the family was forced to have baked beans again for dinner. The event was a silent affair, except for Petunia who was complaining that her beans had a bug in it, and Vernon greedily slurping down his beans. Lily was too disgusted to watch. Dinner took twenty minutes of silent torture before her parents announced that everyone should be getting to bed, because they would be up early the next morning. As Vernon and Petunia disappeared into their tent, Lily put out the fire and glanced nervously around her shoulder. If her sister saw what she was about to do, Lily would never live it down. After making sure her sister was too busy snogging Vernon to notice what was happening outside, Lily quietly slipped off into the woods. The baked beans didn't exactly agree with her stomach, so she needed to go relieve herself.  
  
She wandered deep enough into the woods so as she could not be seen nor heard. After she had finished with her business, Lily had began wandering back to her camp site but soon found that she had no idea where she was. After half an hour of wandering around aimlessly, Lily was just about to panic, but to relief she heard voices. It was a male voice, and a female voice. At first she thought it was the moans of Petunia and Vernon, but she soon found that the male voice was too high to be Vernon's.  
  
At that point, Lily was so lost she didn't care who it was so she went forward to approach the two dark figures. The voices soon became clearer and clearer, and then she found out that one of them she knew. It was the cool, cat-like voice of Bellatrix Black. Lily's mind began to wonder, she knew that the Blacks didn't live this far out because she heard Sirius telling James that he lived in London. So what was the prestigious Bellatrix Black doing in the middle of the woods, near Hogwarts?  
  
Lily dared herself to move two or three steps further, but then stopped dead at the sight she saw. Fierce, shining red eyes with black cat-like slits for pupils was starring Bellatrix in the face. She knew exactly who it had to be, even though she had never seen him in her life. Lord Voldemort was standing just a few inches away from her. Lily knew that she should run for her life, for if she were discovered her life would without- a-doubt be taken from her, no question about it. But as it stood, Lily couldn't move because there was brush and shrubbery all around her and if she moved, undoubtedly a twig would crack and there-for give away her position. It was the worst situation that anyone could be in; a Muggle-born witch, who went to Hogwarts, that was allied with Albus Dumbledore, and was dead set against the Dark Arts was standing just a few feet away form the most powerful and evil dark wizard of ages eavesdropping on him and a member of the infamous Black family. Lily would have given anything in the world to never have moved that far into the woods.  
  
Lily stood there for what seemed like ages. For many hours the Dark Lord and the cat-like girl of the Black clan talked for many hours. Lily heard all sorts of things that she would have given all the gold in the world to never have heard. It was taking all of Lily's will not to pull out her wand and curse the two into oblivion, but even though Bellatrix would be easy enough, because she was four years younger than herself, the Dark Lord would crush her like a toothpick, and most likely take her whole family with her. Lily heard the name of Albus Dumbledore many times, and she knew that they were planning something hideous in hopes of killing Dumbledore. Lily had to ball up her fist to keep her from lashing out. Eventually her nails dug so deep into her hands that she drew blood.  
  
At last, Bellatrix had taken her leave of her master, and Lily had a slight glimmer of hope that she could make out of the situation alive. As Bellatrix made her sleek exit, with her black hair blowing in the wind as she took off to the East, Lily let herself make a small sigh of relief. But the instant she did it, Voldemort turned around and looked right in her direction. Lily's heart was in her throat, if she was caught it would be worse than death. His piercing eyes seemed to go through her soul. "Who is there," Voldemort murmured in his cold high voice.  
  
As Voldemort took several steps forward, he was barley five feet from Lily, and she wanted more than anything just to disappear back to her camp site. Her breathing became heavy and labored because the adrenaline was pumping through her veins like wildfire. Slowly and without making a sound she reached into her robes and drew her wand. The Dark Lord took two more small steps toward Lily and...  
  
Flashback end(A/N: I LOVE cliffies. Don't worry, you find out soon what happens. At least it is obvious that Lily lives, isn't it)  
  
Lily was brought back into reality at the chiming of the large grandfather clock. It was eight-o-clock. Grudgingly she got up from her favorite chair, and left the warmth of the Gryffindor Common Room behind to go meet with James Potter and the other fifth-year Prefects.   
  
V   
  
END CHAPTER. Gawd, this took forever to write. Long story why, but you know what people I have been getting didly shit for reviews and so that delayed. Review if you want more chapters faster. HA! By the way, I told you who overheard Voldemort, and in the next chapter or two you do find out what happened to our favorite lily. But if there are no reviews I will leave that out, or not write. Review if you want more chapters.  
  
Flames will be laughed at and deleted. 


	4. Head Meeting and some new emotins

CHAPTER FOUR. MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Thank you for all of you who stuck with it. Besides, I assume all you want to know just what happened when Voldemort found Lily right, right? And I thank those four kind people who have reviewed. Hey, four reviews and four chapters, isn't that odd? This chapter is a bit more lengthy and the PG-13 rating comes in at some point, but nuttin' too graphic. I don't like hard-core lemon, so you will not be finding it in my fic. I am so glad that I was able to pump this baby out in less than a week.  
  
On another note; I HATE THE DMV. I had my license stolen so I had to get a new one and the DMV fucking sucks. First because I am under 18 I had to have a parent/guardian so my mom got pissed that I woke her up and took it out on poor widdle me. Then after waiting in a line for the door to open, which opened half an hour late, I got inside I had to wait an hour for them to call my damn number and then the lady I got couldn't fucking speak English worth a shit. So after all that, and I PAY with CA$H I get in line to have my picture taken and the line is to the damn door and when I am the third in line the machine BREAKS. So the lady says that I should come back in a couple of hours. So I get back and they still haven't fixed the fucking thing, and tell me to come back tomorrow. That is bullshit. Well, I did my revenge in because I sent the owner of that DMV a strongly worded e- mail about how their DMV fucking sucks ass. Also while I was there, there were more old people than you can shake a stick at and every employee was down right shitty and rude. And this one guy ahead of me in line looked as if he hadn't bathed in a week. I just thought I would like to share that with everyone. Sorry about the bad language, but just thinking about it gets me pissed. Lol.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Harry Potter is property of J.K. Rowling, literary genius of the current era. Say I own it and I will spam your e- mail account with gay porn adds, and with pictures of Filch and Hagrid doing cough...unspeakable things (that picture actually exists. I found it on yahoo when I was looking up Harry/Draco yaoi). I also make reference to a novel called Deerskin and that is NOT mine either. It is property of Robin McKinley. If you have never read that book, GO GET OFF YOUR ASS AND READ IT!! It is fucking awesome.  
  
One last thing, there is some L/J fluff in this chapter. Boo yeah! I am not very experienced at writing fluff, so gave this my best shot please let me know what ya think. On with the chapter, enjoy  
  
V V  
  
James sighed gazed up at the ceiling of the library. It was eight-o-clock at night, and he wanted to do other things than explain the duties to the new fifth year Prefects. He could be plotting his big Make-Severus-Snape's- Life-A-Living-Hell prank that he did every year, instead of wasting his time on little fifth years. The only reason he drug himself out of his 'deep' conversation with Sirius was the guarantee that he would see his lily flower before the night was over. After all, Lily Evans would never miss a night of Head Girl duty; she was the top notch student who was the only member of the female sex at Hogwarts who withstood the charm of the infamous James Potter. James chuckled at the thought. It was true that she somehow resisted his charm for the past six years of her life. Then again, James didn't see the greatness of the opposite sex until he was in his third year, but Lily acted like she still didn't fully appreciate the opposite sex. He didn't even thing Lily had ever gotten even halfway to second base, a position that he had been in since his fourth year. In fact, Lily only had two boyfriends in her entire six years at Hogwarts; Amos Diggory from Hufflepuff who she dumped because he only wanted what was inside her pants, and some fellow Gryffindor who slapped her and she had broken his nose the second he hit her then cursed him to have a pumpkin for a head. Even the school nurse, Madam Marsh, had trouble reversing the curse. Lily had of course earned herself a weeks worth of detentions, but seeing as how he, James, was in detention for six of the seven days she was in detention he had no problem with it.  
  
Several of the new Prefects had begun to pour into the library before James notices their presence. He checked his watch, 8:15 PM, and still no Lily. Once again sighing he took it upon himself to stare absent mindedly at the ceiling. He couldn't start the meeting without Lily, so the new Prefects had to wait. He, himself, had never been a Prefect so James didn't really fully comprehend the duties, but Lily on the other hand was a Prefect for her fifth year so she could tell them all about what they had to do.  
  
James remembered how Lily looked the first time he had thought of her other than a silly little girl who only wanted to ruin his life; back in the day when he saw her on the first day of his third year. She seemed to have bloomed overnight. In her first and second year, Lily was nothing more than a puberty deprived little girl who hated anyone of the opposite sex. Then one day, she seemed to have grown breasts overnight, and she actually had hips. James nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw her. Year after year she just seemed to get more beautiful. When James had seen her on the Hogwarts Express just two days earlier, he could feel his pants begin to tighten at the sight of her. She had grown to a height of 5' 5" and was so curvaceous she would make a sailor blush. Her peach skin was flawless, and her legs seemed to be miles long. The hip hugger jeans she was wearing only showed off her petite build and full hips. She wore a tight red shirt which showed off every once of well-rounded cleavage she possessed. Her hair was up in a lose bun around her long neck, and her sparkling green eyes showed out even more than they usually did. Of course his first reaction was to ask her out on a date, but she slapped him which only made James long for her even more.  
  
James chuckled once again, only the infamous Lily Evans would refuse a date with the ring leader of the Marauders. He immediately sat straight up in his seat as Lily walked into the library. James was memorized at how much the Hogwarts uniforms really covered up. She seemed to have no figure at all, but when she wore her muggle clothing she looked so divine, even a glace of her beautiful eyes could make a man stop dead in his tracks. James grinned at her, but she didn't seem to have noticed it because her face was looking straight ahead.  
  
Once Lily took a seat next to James all of the fifth years stopped talking and focused their attention on the Head Boy and Head Girl. Lily looked around at them all, and James marveled at how she could keep such seriousness so late at night. "Welcome to the first meeting of the year. I am the Head Girl, Lily Evans and this is..." she droned on  
  
"James Potter, official member of the Marauders," said James. It was not as if he really needed an introduction, because anyone who had spent a week at Hogwarts was well aware of the Marauders. Actually James suspected that there wasn't a student in the school who he hadn't played some kind of trick on.  
  
"Yes. As new Prefects we are here to explain your new duties. Now just because you are Prefects doesn't mean that you have the power to dock points away, and DO NOT abuse your privilege to have the ability to put people in detention," she added menacingly. "All of you are expected to show that you are mature students and will not break the rules," Lily said. The fifth years seemed to be hanging on every word of Lily's speech, but James on the other hand was checking out more important things, such as how long and creamy Lily's legs were that stuck out of the black skirt that was the Hogwarts uniform.  
  
For another half an hour Lily spent talking to the new Prefects, and once she was done she dismissed them. James stayed behind because the two of them had to plan the graduation ball that all seventh years were to attend.  
  
After the last person left, Lily and James were completely alone. The two of them just stared at each other for the first ten minutes and this time it was James' turn to break the silence. "Did I ever say that you have the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen Lils," James said.  
  
"Yes you have. Several times in fact," Lily said. She seemed to holding herself back from saying some vicious insults after their promise earlier that day to 'put aside their differences and work together'. "Well regarding this ball, I think that we should hold it the evening after N.E.W.Ts as a sort of 'Thank God that exams are over' type of thing," she said.  
  
"I suppose that would work. Besides, the next day is a Hogsmead visit so all of us will finally get to have some fun before we all find out how horrible we did on our exams," James said, trying to get Lily to put down her defensive shield she had built around her.  
  
Lily laughed at that and continued, "As decorations I think that we should hang the house banners over each of the house tables..."  
  
"But the Gryffindor one will be the biggest and bestest one of all because Gryffindor is by far the best," James said in a mock-play tone.  
  
"And I think that we should split the responsibility for the food and the music," Lily said,  
  
"Cool. Hey, can I get food because that is what I know best," James said  
  
"Ehh no, because I don't know anything about wizard bands. Because you have a more obvious connection I was hoping that you would take care of that," Lily said with slight embarrassment in her voice. She hated the fact that she was a muggle born because she always felt like such an outsider. True a majority of the school was muggle born, but at least they got to explore more about the world they belonged in because their families accepted it. Because of Petunia, Lily's parents had forced her to act like a muggle all during the summer. She felt like drowning as she felt the slight blush come across her face.  
  
"Awe, come on Lils. It isn't that bad. All you need to do is just find someone that is feature on the WWN," said James.  
  
"WWN?"  
  
"Opss, sorry I forgot. I meant Wizarding Wireless Network," said James with guilt. Lily seemed, to him anyway, so in touch with the wizarding world that he sometimes forgot that she was a muggle born. "You know what, I'll take care of the music, and you can get the food," he said.  
  
"Why all the sudden are you being nice to me?" Lily said. It was a very unusual thing for James to compromise with anyone and she wanted to know what he wanted in exchange.  
  
"Why, I am hurt by that dear Lily. You must think that I always want something in return for my wonderful services," James said with fake concern and hurt in his face. His eyes on the other hand reflected his usual mischievous nature.  
  
"Don't you always," Lily said as more of a statement than a question.  
  
"So you think that I am nothing but an arrogant prat who only cares about himself," James said.  
  
"Yeah, that about sums it up," Lily said.  
  
"Since when have I asked for something in return for what you did?" James said.  
  
"Fifth year, you attracted Snape and I told you to lay off you responded with 'I will if you go out with me. Go on-go out with me'. Last year when you cursed my cat to be Slytherin green and after you said the counter curse you said that I owed you at least one date down in Hogsmead. Fourth year when you..." Lily said with humor in her voice.  
  
"Okay okay, you don't have to rub it in. But a bloke can change. And as a matter of fact...," James said. Well didn't really know what the 'matter of fact' was for the situation he was in, but he just felt like saying it anyway.  
  
Lily laughed again, only this time it was a lot more than a chuckle, it was a full blown laugh. "As a matter of fact what?"  
  
"No idea. Just felt like a good thing to say at the moment," James said.  
  
At that both Lily and James laughed together. James was beside himself with glee. It was the first time him and the love of his life had had a decent conversation that didn't end up in one smacking the other. He hadn't felt this good since he had cursed Snivellus' nose hair to curl around his throat.  
  
Lily on the other hand was having some trouble coping with what she was feeling. This was James Potter! He had made it his ambition to cause as much mayhem in her life as earthy possible. Why was he being so nice, and likeable? Lily didn't understand. And her reaction to him was almost unconceivable. She had become much jitterier, and was embarrassed easily. She didn't understand why all the sudden her stomach had butterflies in it when she talked to him. It was then when Lily chose to end it and announced that she was going to bed.  
  
XVX  
  
The rest of the week didn't go any better than her first day back. James took it upon himself to revert back to his I'm-the-biggest-ass-Hogwarts-has- ever-seen mode and it was beginning to piss Lily off. Twice that week he tired to pull his usual pranks on her, but only once did he secede. The first time Dorcas had overhead the Marauders talking about it and tipped off Lily. The second time James managed to put sneak some Bubotuber puss in the water that Lily happened to be washing her hands in, and one hour later her hands were so swollen Lily had to be excused from History of Magic to go to see the nurse.  
  
The same routine went on for several weeks before James had suddenly become inactive, which for James Potter was an unusual thing indeed. Lily had her suspicions but she didn't share them with anyone but Dorcas and Anthy.  
  
A couple of days later posted on the board outside the Great Hall were the date of the first visit to Hogsmead Village. Lily had been very much looking forward to it because she needed a chance to ask around the village if anyone would be willing to donate food the graduation ball at the end of the year. Lily wanted to get a bulk of the work out of the way so she had more time to study for N.E.W.Ts. It was rumored that even Sirius Black was seen in the library studying. Actually, Dorcas was the one who started the rumor because Sirius had asked her for directions to the library because he had never been there before. Lily laughed at that when she first heard it. But there was a down side because the Marauder's usual fan club was now seen snooping around the Library looking for sings of James, Sirius, Remus or Peter. Lily had found it rather distracting, and on one particular occasion she had cussed the group out for making too much noise.  
  
On the morning of the Hogsmead visit Lily had woken up unusually early. The sun was just beginning to come up over the mountains to the North, and a faint orange outline lit up the valley where the Quidditch Pitch lay. No one in the dormitory was awake at the moment, so Lily quickly slipped out of her covers and escaped into the showers.  
  
The showers for the Gryffindor girls were quite exquisite. The floors were solid white marble that never tarnished no matter the amount of dirt and grime. All of the sinks were pure porcelain and it too never tarnished. The taps to the sinks were made of the best crystal and a large red ruby was embedded on each. On one side of the bathroom were pool sized baths and each had a scarlet curtain that surrounded it to give the bather privacy. Many of the baths had names on them, because many of the girl students preferred to take a bath than a shower. The other side of the bath room was shower stalls and a golden curtain surrounded each. The tabs were, like the sinks, crystal and embedded with a ruby. They also had names on them, and Lily soon the stall with her own name glistening in bright scarlet letters.  
  
After stripping herself of her pajamas, Lily slipped into the shower and let the lukewarm water wash over her pale skin. The feeling was pure bliss; Lily could lose herself in the warm water that cascaded her slender body. Reaching out her hand, Lily grabbed her bottle of shampoo which smelled of orange citrus. She massaged it into her hair, and then rinsed it from her scalp. Then she grabbed a bar of no scent soap and made a quick job of washing her body. Once her shower was over Lily stepped out and wrapped a fluffy white towel around her body.  
  
Taking her wand, which Lily had brought with her, she summoned the clothes that she would wear to Hogsmead. Because it was a Saturday Lily could wear muggle clothes. She chose a pair of light baggy jeans that were around two sized too big, a black leather belt and a ruby red sweatshirt that was also several sizes too big. Once dressed, Lily muttered a simple spell that automatically made her hair dry.  
  
Once Lily had returned to her dormitory she took out a necklace that her father had given to her; it was a simple emerald in the shape of a tear drop on a silver chain. It was Lily's most cherished possession. Lily's mother had always seemed to favor Petunia over Lily ever since her letter had arrived, but Lily's father, John Evans, seemed to understand how Lily was feeling more than anyone in the family could even conceive. One day when Lily and Petunia had had a particularly ugly argument that ended up with Petunia calling her sister a bitch and Lily crying in her room, she was only twelve at the time. Her father had come up and given Lily the necklace. It wasn't out of pity or sorrow, but out of love. He said that it belonged to his mother, and his grandmother and great-grandmother and so forth for six generations. Because there were no girls born when Mr. Evans was growing up the necklace was given to him to give to his daughter. Since then, Lily had always worn it no matter what. She never showed it to anyone, not even Dorcas and Anthy, because it was a precious keepsake and if anyone knew about it the necklace would most likely be stolen because of its value, beauty and historic placement. She wore it on the inside of her uniform, and it only showed the silver chain.  
  
She also pulled out from her belongings was a book which she took with her to the common room. The fire was still in as full of a flame was when Lily had went to sleep the previous night. Taking a seat in her favorite chair right next to the fire, Lily opened up her novel, Deerskin, and began to read. Deerskin was her all time favorite novel, because in a way she could relate to the main character, Lissala Lissar. She was scorned by her family and suffered loneliness throughout her life until she reached the Yellow Kingdom and Prince Ossin. It was like the desertion Lily felt by her family until she reached Hogwarts. And like in the novel when Lissar has to face her real heritage and the person who raped her, Lily had to face reality every summer and do what she dreaded most. (A/N: Like I said, GO READ THAT BOOK. IT IS AWESOME! I HAVE READ IT SEVEN TIMES, AND IT GETS BETTER EVERY TIME. GO READ IT. NOW!)  
  
As Lily read further and further she began to drift off to sleep, but what she saw in her dreams was not what she wanted to face...  
  
XX Flashback CONTINUEDXX (HA! The moment that you all have been waiting for)  
  
The Dark Lord took two more small steps toward Lily and in an instant seemed distracted by something else. Lord Voldemort was literally on top of her but by nothing but a miracle from God something had distracted Voldemort. Hurriedly he ran a far distance in the opposite direction of Lily. In that instant Lily felt like she could breath again and risked sighing out loud.  
  
Out of the blue a small, somewhat pudgy figure emerged from out of nowhere. His voice was high and somewhat hoarse. Voldemort turned to this small figure, who was cowering on the ground. Voldemort walked right over to him as if he was expecting this stranger "You're late Wormtail," he spoke in his high cold voice.  
  
Lily stood in utter confusion. Who is Wormtail, she thought to herself. The phrase sounded familiar but she couldn't quite put her finger on it (A/N: The Marauders haven't used Peter's nickname in front of her OKAY!). When Lily finally had a chance to escape, curiosity kept her feet glued to the ground as she listened intently on what was being said.  
  
"I am sorry master, please forgive me," the pitiful figure begged.  
  
"That will depend on the nature of the news you bring me?" Voldemort said with his voice as cold as ice.  
  
"Please master, don't kill me! I have heard nothing new that would aid you in anyway," the crouched figure said with plead in his voice.  
  
"Well well well, this is a disappointment. And I thought you would provide much more adequate information than this. My spies have proven weak against that fool, Albus Dumbledore," Voldemort hissed, sounding like a snake getting ready to strike its prey.  
  
"Master...please...I beg you..."  
  
"SILENCE! You need to be taught just what happens to those who do not please Lord Voldemort" The Dark Lord raised his wand, aimed it at the poor figure and shouted "CURICO"  
  
The figure cried and screamed out in pain. It was pain beyond endurance, and yet the soul was not released from the confines of his body. Lily had determined that the figure was male and around her age, judging by the voice. Lily could barley stand watching this poor man being tortured like that, but she knew that she couldn't help him either. Against the nagging voice in her head, Lily took advantage of the shrill screams and bolted away from Lord Voldemort and the poor fraction of a man that he was torturing.  
  
XX Flashback Ends XX (well, nothing to get too excited about)  
  
Lily was abruptly interrupted from her sleep by four male voices. Who would be awake at this time in the morning? Lily put her book down and waited for the four voices to show their faces. As the got closer, Lily could decipher what they were saying:  
  
"Shit what a night that was!" Came a voice that sounded all too like Sirius Black.  
  
"Best yet I would say" Lily's stomach gave an involuntary back flip at the sound of the voice of James Potter. Ever since the time they had their Head meeting, Lily had been extremely nervous around James, and she never could figure out why. Sure he had been nice to her one night, but what did one night say out of seventeen years of being an insufferable ass?  
  
"That was a close one wasn't it ol' Padfoot"  
  
"Like you didn't a few close ones yourself Prongs"  
  
"A little too close for my liking" said the voice of Remus Lupin. He seemed somewhat shaken up but pleased none-the-less.  
  
"Great work as usual Peter" said Sirius.  
  
"Likewise Padfoot" said the energetic squeaky voice of Peter Pettigrew.  
  
"And who was the one who stopped poor widdle Peter from being squashed by some gargantuan dog with feet the size of Britain? But do I get any thanks?" James said with mock insult.  
  
After finding out who were the ones causing such a ruckus so early in the morning Lily went back to her book not really paying much attention to the Marauders talk enthusiastically about what ever they had just done. Knowing them, they had most likely set up another trap for Severus 'Snivellus' Snape. Lily hated how they seemed to pick Snape out of the crowd more than anyone else. True he was Slytherin scum, and Lily didn't care for him one bit she still felt sorry for him. He had been humiliated in front of the entire school more than anyone else in that generation of Hogwarts. It was almost sad what poor Snape had to go through, but the arrogant prat refused to accept help. The first, and last, time Lily had chosen to help him only resulted in her being called a Mudblood and James asking her out in front of the entire school again.  
  
When the Marauders had reached the top of the stairs heading into the common room they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Lily Evans. All of them gave her nervous looks, when she looked up from her book and acknowledged their presence with nothing but a cold stare. Remus was the one to break the silence "Where you listening Lily?"  
  
"No. why would I listen to the conversation of two egotistical prats that I hate?" Lily said matter-of-factly. It was known to everyone that Lily hated James and Sirius, but she held no grudge against Remus and Peter. Neither of them had done anything to cause her hate, so she treated them with respect. As a matter of fact, Lily admired Remus quite a bit because of his cool and calm demeanor and he was an all around nice guy. Lily suspected that she had maybe talked to Peter once in her life, and that was in her first year asking directions to the Quidditch pitch.  
  
All four of the Marauders gave sighs of relief and Lily only rolled her eyes. Sirius, Remus and Peter went up to the Boys' Dormitories while James stayed in the common room sitting next to Lily. Lily paid him no notice until James spoke up "Why do you hate me and only think of me as an arrogant prat?"  
  
"Do I really need to answer that question? I should think the answer is obvious," Lily said coldly. Next to Snape, Lily was the single person most pranked on in the entire school.  
  
"Lily you really have no idea how the mind of the opposite sex works. Pity," said James. "Hasn't anyone ever told you that unless you are an arrogant prick like Snape that means that I think highly of you?"  
  
"No" she said simply.  
  
"Well it's true".  
  
"I'll keep that in mind"  
  
"Lils, would it kill you not to be so cold to everyone? It is as if you don't want anyone to be near you"  
  
"So what is wrong with that?"  
  
"Has something happened?"  
  
"No," Lily said simply.  
  
"Really"  
  
"No"  
  
"Really really?"  
  
"No". Lily was really beginning to get irritated.  
  
"Something has happened"  
  
"No"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"No"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"No"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"NO! Damnit Potter, NOTHING HAS HAPPENED," shouted Lily at the top of her voice. He didn't need to know everything. It was none of his business of no one but her father didn't flinch when the looked at her, or that she had narrowly escaped death by the Dark Lord. It was no one's business. Lily stormed off back to her dorm. Once she was out of eye and earshot, James said under his breath "Some has happened".  
  
James would be damned if he would believe Lily's story. She was being much more moody that usual and rose to even the smallest bait. James knew Lily better than almost anyone because he had followed her meticulously for the past six years of his life. She was a very intelligent and smart girl, who had a very short fuse. She cared about everyone close to her and even some people who were not so close to her. Lately however she seemed to be cutting herself off from everyone. Even Dorcas and Anthy were being cut out. It was as if she was building a barrier around her trying to keep everyone out, and her own feelings in. James was very concerned, because no one should have to deal with that, no one. He didn't know what he would do if he had to keep his feelings to himself. Most likely he would burst open, because keeping his feelings to himself was just one thing that James Potter could not do. He could no sooner walk on water than keep what he felt inside. He had no idea how Lily could keep so much inside, but it was clear that something was eating her inside and out.  
  
Upon closer look, James noticed that Lily had left her book behind. He looked at the cover curiously and noticed that it was a muggle novel because the cover picture didn't move at all. Muggles are so weird, he thought to himself. How they could live without magic James had no idea. The book was tattered, but a clear picture of a woman with silver hair and startlingly green eyes was on the front, as well as a picture of a silver blonde long haired hound. The art was rather impressive and even wizard painters couldn't get a painting to move, only photographs did. Weird, the thought to himself.  
  
X V X  
  
End chapter. HA! I got this one out in less than a week just like I promised, and it is a couple Kb bigger than chapter three. Seeing as how I am getting didly shit for reviews I am starting to lose my urge to continue writing this, but I surprised even myself for getting this done so quickly. I promised that I would have this out in less than a week, and it is done! And by the way, just because I am an egotistical bitch, I KNOW THE TITLE TO BOOK 6! Chances are that the major Harry Potter webrings will have announced it, but I feel like being a prat anyways. I will make you a deal, if I get 10 reviews on this story (I have only gotten four reviews, so that means six more) I will announce the title in the next chapter. Well it will be the title to book 6 if Rowling doesn't change anything, or her editor doesn't suggest a different one. This took me fucking hours to crack on her website, but this is the most reliable piece of information that I can find so far on the net. So remember, six more reviews and I will announce it. I know that many people might already have cracked it, but there always that many more who don't know.  
  
And because I am such a nice person, cough cough if I do get a total of ten reviews I will get the next chapter out within a week. So please please please please please please review. 


	5. Hogsmead Village and a civil conversatio...

I still haven't gotten a total of ten reviews. (Goes over to corner and pouts. Then pulls out a bazooka) REVIEW DAMNIT. And for those few people who have reviewed, (gets down on knees) thank you.

One final note, I just want to say this so I don't get any annoying correction mail (which half the time is sent by idiots who base everything from the movies, but that isn't the point), but in book 5, according to Trelawney Lily and James defied Voldemort thrice, but the flashback with Lily and Voldemort DOSE NOT COUNT! Voldemort did not attack her, and he didn't really know that she was there because he was distracted by Pettigrew (die, peter, diiiieeeee). Oh yeah, and Lily hasn't made the connection that Wormtail is really that little bastard, Peter. If you look back in my story even when the Marauders were coming up the stairs, James, Sirius and Remus called him Peter NOT Wormtail. She has no idea about his real name, and she doesn't figure it out until she is killed, so THERE!

By the way, I will try to stop making my little author's notes in the middle of the story. I know that those annoy some people, but I tend to find them funny, however I will try to stop anyway.

Disclaimer: I don't own jack shit. Not even ten reviews. All is property of J.K Rowling. Anthy and a new character are mine that is all. I am making no profit off of this story. Besides, even if I was paid by the reviews I would still get jack shit because no one has the decency to review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

X

V

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Students were pouring outside onto the frost bitten grounds of Hogwarts. Because it was a Hogsmead visit all of the students in Year 3 and above were scattering around as fast as they could so that they could reach the village as fast as possible. James was waiting just outside the Entrance Hall for Sirius, Remus and Peter. He began tapping his foot out of sheer annoyance, _why the hell do they decide that they wanted to be late on a Hogsmead visit,_ James thought to himself.

After his fight with Lily that morning James' mood had been somewhat in the dumps, and some one-on-one time with Sirius (NOT that way, Perverts). Sure talking with Remus wouldn't hurt either, but it just wasn't the same when he was with Sirius. They had grown up together, despite the family from hell that Sirius lived with. Luckily for Sirius though, he had finally said enough and stormed out of that hellhole and took up residence with James and his parents, Evelyn and Dominic. That summer was pure bliss because the two best friends were no longer separated and they could pull as many pranks as the two could manage. James smiled inwardly at the memory. Of course Remus had come to stay for several weeks over the summer, as did Peter. The four of them ended up spending their days, and nights, making plans of how to get Snivellus and Bellatrix expelled. The ideas where fun, and somewhat therapeutic, to talk about even if they weren't possible.

James checked his watch, which was powered by magic, and tapped his foot a little bit faster. How he hated waiting. As a matter of fact, waiting was the one thing other than the Dark Arts that James just couldn't stand. However his mind was occupied within seconds; because Lily Evans just walked pass him with Anthy and Dorcas. His mind went back to the fight they had had earlier. Why had she reacted so coldly to him? James couldn't understand it, even Lily Evans didn't just explode on anyone like she did that morning, and he could tell that Lily was hiding something from everyone, even Dorcas and Anthy. When Lily didn't tell her two best friends in the magical and muggle world it was a sure-tell sign that something was wrong. After several more minutes of pondering the subject James saw two figures that were Sirius and Remus approaching him.

"Oi, where is Wormtail? Wasn't he coming too," James inquired.

"He was supposed to come, but he ended up catching a cold and Madam Pomphery was all out of Pepperup potion and asked Lantis to brew another one," Remus said.

"I wouldn't drink anything that that slime ball Lantis would ever give to me," Sirius remarked.

"Neither would I, Padfoot, "replied James.

Professor Ogden Lantis was the Potions Master at Hogwarts and he was loathed by every student. Some said that his favorite phrase was 'I'm not racist, I hate everyone equally', and that just about summed him up. Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw alike all hated him. He reminded all the students of an overgrown mantis (you know, the green bug that is featured in The Next Karate Kid). Lantis was long, slender and lanky, with long curling fingers. His hair was pure grey, despite his young age, 36; his eyes were a piercing ice blue, and his glare could make a the hair stand up on the back of your neck. He treated all of his students like pawns, and at one point he poisoned one of his students and gave them the antidote only after they confessed to setting off a Dungbomb in his class. Naturally none of the other teachers knew about that incident, but Dumbledore had confronted him about it, and was given a clear warning that if he did anything like it again Professor Lantis would lose his job.

The subject of how much of a git Professor Lantis was lasted them all the way to the outskirts of Hogsmead. There the group of three stopped, faced each other and began deliberating on what they wanted to do in Hogsmead. Both James and Sirius were out of Dungbombs and Filibuster Fireworks so they intended on going to Zonko's, Remus was all out of sweets and his Chocolate Frog Card Collection was beginning to fall short so he wanted to replenish his stalk. All three of them wanted a Butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks and they needed to visit the Post Office because all three of them were obligated to send their parents an Owl during their Hogsmead visits, well all but Sirius, but then again with his family Sirius really didn't give a rat's ass.

They decided that they would meet at the Three Broomsticks in half an hour. Remus took off to the North end of town to Honeydukes and James and Sirius headed off to Zonko's. While they were walking Sirius thought that he would spark off a conversation

"Hey Prongs".

"What is it Padfoot," James replied.

"What has been going on between you and Evans?" Sirius inquired.

"Nothing much really, why?" James said suspiciously. "What is going through your dog mind?"

"Why nothing at all my deer boy (A/N: coughcoughcough_badpun_cough)," Sirius responded. "It is just that you and Evans seem to be getting along worse than usual. She normally waits until you curse her hair green before she starts telling you off," Sirius said.

"Well to tell you the truth, she seems a little more...nervy this year," James said with all sincerity.

"Aww...our widdle Jamesie-poo is all growing up and falling for the ickle miss Head Girl," Sirius said in a mock baby tone, with a grin from ear to ear on his face.

"Sirius do me a favor".

"Sure"

"Bite me"

"Would that be with or without rabies?" Sirius said. James laughed at the comment, and the two of them took off at full speed towards Zonko's.

As usual, Zonko's was packed with Hogwarts students. Both James and Sirius had to push and shove their way into the store, and to the rack to find a brand new shining case of Dungbombs. James quickly checked the price, 4 Sickles, that was easy enough. Sirius also was inspecting the price, and turned to his best friend in the world and gave him a big goofy smile, of course it was nothing in comparison to James, but it was enough to make the surrounding girls swoon. Each grabbing six bags of Dungbombs and once they left the store, their money bags were considerably less than when they had first entered. Checking his watch again James realized that they still had around twenty minutes before they had to meet Remus at The Three Broomsticks.

"Oi Prongs, how about we visit that new shop down the street. From what I have heard it carries Quidditch and Quodpot (see Quidditch through the Ages) supplies," Sirius said enthusiastically.

"Why those American yanks like Quodpot I'll never know," James remarked. He himself had never really gotten Quodpot, and the fact that there was no Snitch or Bludgers was a huge disappointment to him. Sirius on the other hand loved both Quidditch and Quodpot. James had to admit that America did have a knack for good Quidditch teams and the team the Sweetwater All-Stars did remain as one of the best on James' idea of a good Quidditch team. Quodpot on the other hand made no sense to him.

Quodpot consists of two opposing teams that try to get a modified Quaffle or Quod as it is called in America into the other team's 'pot'. The Quod is modified so that it will exploded in the face of the person who is holding it, and when the Quod explodes, not only is the player knocked unconscious they are out of the game. The way to keep the Quod from exploding is to dip it in the 'pot', which holds a potion that will keep the Quod from exploding. Once a Quod had been dipped, a new one is thrown in, and the process starts all over again. It was not a very popular sport in Britain, but some British Witches and Wizards insist that Quodpot is just as good as Quidditch. James has always been faithful to Quidditch.

"American _what_ precisely," came a female voice from behind.

James and Sirius turned around. There facing them was an American Witch. "Who the bloody hell are you," James said.

"I am one of those 'American yanks' you two are talking about," she said coldly. With just one look at her, anyone could have figured out that she was from America. To begin with she wore a long white cloak that had the American flag embroidered on it, as well as an American flag fasten. She was muscularly built as if she worked out. Her hair was a golden brown and curly, which was kept back by a red, white and blue hair piece in a low bun on the other side of her head. Her eyes were a mixture of grey and green, and they swirled together to get some unknown color. Around her neck were a jade dragon pendant and a plain silver chain.

"Well then Miss American, what is someone like you doing in the middle of Hogsmead?" Sirius said flirtatiously. There was no denying that she was American, as well as there was no denying that she was attractive. Hell, even the glasses seemed to frame her eyes and make them seem more beautiful.

"To be downright honest, my parents just moved here and I have to transfer to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It wasn't my choice to move, and I hate it here," she said bluntly. That was the problem with Americans, as the British thought, they are too bluntly honest and don't present themselves and ladies and gentlemen. Then again many British, such as the Marauders, didn't present themselves as such either but they didn't have the blunt rudeness than all Americans seemed to be infested with.

"Well miss, us two gents attend Hogwarts and I must say my American chap, it isn't all that bad," Sirius continued to say. His voice suddenly sounded older and more mature.

"Sure, whatever. And just for the record _James Potter and Sirius Black_ I would suggest that you keep your pranks to yourself, and leave this witch alone," she added menacingly.

"How do you know our names?" James asked.

"Well the reputation of the infamous Marauders seems to be so large that even to us American yanks. Since I moved here I have heard your names repeated many times among the village folk," she said.

"So you live in the village?" Sirius said.

"Give the boy a prize. Yes I live in the village. As a matter of fact my family is the ones who opened that shop that sells Quidditch and Quodpot supplies. You can also find magical creature care items. I believe the gamekeeper, Hagrid is it, has already found my family's store useful," she said with a spark in her eyes, that reminded James of Lily. They had the same fire to them that seemed to reflect their every emotion. Her glasses seemed only to flatter her face, and shape it off. It was the opposite of what they looked like on most people.

"Okay I got a new question love, you seem to know our names but we don't seem to know yours. How is it that our connections in Hogsmead didn't report to us that such a gorgeous creature has walked into our midst," Sirius said with a smirk on his face. He was saying it more to James than to the girl in front of them. But it was her to answer it;

"Because I haven't given it to anyone yet, idiot," she said.

"Well, what is it," James asked.

"Amberle H. Adams," she said.

"Weird name for a weird girl," James said with a smile. "What's the H. stand for?"

"Helen. That is all you need to know," she said. With that Amberle walked off without another.

James and Sirius just looked at each other. Americans sure were weird and pushy too. With that, the two of them decided to head down to the Three Broomsticks.

VXV

Across on the other side of Hogsmead Lily, Dorcas and Anthy were exiting Honeydukes with their pockets bulging with sweets. All three of them had been enjoying an enjoyable time away from Hogwarts; as a matter of fact it was the only time away from Hogwarts that Lily enjoyed. They all had been looking forward to the Halloween Hogsmead visit but Lily in particular because she needed to know if Madam Rosmerta would agree to lend out some generous portions of Butterbeer and such things for the graduation dance. Seeing as how that she was the only one in the village who could do that Lily suspected that she would have no problem. But before they went to the Three Broomsticks, Dorcas dragged her friends down to the new store which was owned and run by Amberle and her family. Of course Lily and her friends at the time didn't know Amberle. Just after she had taken her leave from Sirius and James she ended up running into Lily, Dorcas and Anthy when they walked into the store.

Amberle greeted them respectfully and quite unlike how she greeted the two Marauders. Dorcas was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team; she was a beater on the team and the 4th female Beater in the history of Hogwarts. She was the one who convinced Lily and Anthy to go to the store, _All Outdoor Sport and Creature Needs. _Both Lily and Anthy didn't like to fly, and they much preferred to keep both their feet firmly planted on the ground.

"Where are your Beater supplies located," Dorcas asked.

Amberle pointed to the back of the store, and Dorcas went to inspect their new set of clubs leaving Lily and Anthy to converse with Amberle.

"So I take it that you are from America," Lily said. It was pretty easy to tell with the cloak she was wearing.

"You bet," Amberle said.

"I've never been, but I hear that it is really cool there. I have always wanted to visit New York City or L.A.," Anthy said.

"New York and L.A. are both pretty cool, but I prefer the more humble cities. I have lived in six different states, 11 different cities, but my favorite one was a small town called King, and it in North Carolina. North Carolina was my favorite place to live; out of all the places I have lived, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Missouri, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, good ol' NC was my favorite," she said brightly. "But Texas had the best Quidditch matches, seeing as how the Sweetwater All-Stars are from it. Actually I remember that we kicked both Ireland and Bulgaria's ass in the last few matches," she said.

"Do you live here," said Anthy. She was scratching her arm rather oddly, as if she had been burned and she was trying to subdue the pain.

"Yes. My family just moved my ass all the way across the freaking ocean to live here. Although I love all of the Quidditch, I miss the U.S.A," Amberle complained.

"But if you live here, where do you go to school? Or have you already graduated," questioned Lily. It looked as if Dorcas wouldn't be coming back any time soon; she had moved on from the shiny new Bludgers and Clubs and was now inspecting the new Silver Arrow 44 that had just come in.

"I am supposed to enroll in Hogwarts in around two weeks. But I miss my old school, not to mention we weren't required to wear uniforms," Amberle continued.

"Your store has some awesome supplies. It almost out beats _Quality Quidditch Supplies _because they don't carry Quodpot equipment," Dorcas said as she came back to the front of the store.

"Thanks. I am a huge fan of Quodpot, but I still like Quidditch better. It is true that here many people prefer Quidditch, but you wouldn't believe our Quodpot sales," the American said, but her attention was caught by a brown haired man that looked like her father. He had called her to the back of the store. With that, Amberle said her goodbyes and disappeared to the back of the store. Lily, Dorcas and Anthy all left after that. Satisfied the three of them made their way to the Three Broomsticks.

When they opened the door all three of them were greeted by Madam Rosmerta. They took a seat at the table next to a window that out looked on the village of Hogsmead. Lily went up to order three Butterbeers and also questioned Rosmerta about the drinks for the ball. Just as Lily had suspected, Madam Rosmerta would be more than happy to comply. When Lily had paid for their drinks she sat back down with Dorcas and Anthy. Together the three friends chatted about school, their current boyfriend situation (both Dorcas and Anthy were single like Lily, which she was glad to hear), the threat of Voldemort, and how to get revenge of the Marauders for sneaking the Bubotuber puss into the water Lily was using at the time. So far all they could think of was to curse James' Transfiguration book to bite his face whenever he was reading. It was something that Lily and her friends had done in the past, but to Sirius and not James.

Lily hadn't told either Dorcas or Anthy of her encounters with Potter; the one during the Prefect Meeting and the other in the common room that morning. Both times Lily felt an odd feeling in her belly, that wasn't her usual hatred of James and that thought seemed to scare her. What feelings could she have of him other than utter and pure loathing? He had done about every prank in the book on her since her first year, so why was she feeling like this? Lily just couldn't understand, for the first time in her life Lily Evans didn't understand.

"Shit. Why do they have to be here?" Dorcas complained as James and Sirius entered the building. Lily turned around and saw them order their drinks and sit with Remus. Apparently they hadn't noticed Lily's presence, for which she was very thankful. But just when the three girls began to resume their conversation James, Sirius and Remus got up and sat at the three vacant seats with the girls. All three of them gave them looks of utter hatred. 'Them' meaning James and Sirius, Remus hadn't done anything to their knowledge to earn their malice.

"So how are you three babes doing," Sirius said.

"Pretty good until you three showed up," said Anthy in a low voice.

"So Lils, did you take care of the food situation yet for the ball," James asked, wanting to make a nice conversation with Lily for once.

"Fine Potter. I arranged everything with Madam Rosmerta today. How about the music, do you have anyone in mind?" Lily replied. She too was in no mood to start a quarrel with James, and that feeling in her stomach had returned. It was as if she had a whole heard of butterflies in her stomach, and it had never happened until that damn Prefect Meeting, when she had had her first civil conversation with James. _Potter_ she reminded herself, since when did she start calling him by his first name? Had that bastard put some kind of spell on her? Lily doubted it, but was sick of the feeling.

"What ball? What are you two talking about," Remus said. No one had told him of any ball. Sirius, Dorcas and Anthy also had the same quizzical look like they had no idea what they were talking about. _More likely the fact that Lily Evans and James Potter are having a civil conversation is what causing them to look like that, _Remus said to himself.

"The graduating class of this year is going to have a ball, and Potter and I are in charge. We split the two main duties among each other. Potter has to take care of the music, while I am on food duty," Lily explained.

"So far I only have found out a band called Orion, and they seem to be quite eager to do it. I haven't heard them play yet, but from what I have heard other people tell me they are really good," James said.

"I've heard of Orion! They played their music on the WWN, during their Thursday Newbie hour. I would most definitely go for Orion," Anthy said as she took a swing from her Butterbeer.

"Well as long as they sound good, I don't care if they are not a big name," Lily said.

"I agree with Anthy, I too have heard them. They are pretty good, "Remus added.

"Way to go Potter. It looks like you do know how to do some work, "Lily said with a smirk.

"Wow that is the first time I have spoken to you Evans, and I haven't been insulted. This must be a new record for me," said James with a goofy grin on his face.

"Yeah well...don't push it," Lily said. She really couldn't think of anything wittier than that.

For the next hour or so the arch rival groups of the Marauders and Lily Evans and co. talked in peace and not a single fight had broken out; a new Hogwarts record. Several of the girls sitting around threw Lily, Dorcas and Anthy looks of the uttermost loathing because they got the ultimate honor of talking with the Marauders without busting their asses.

The six students were in the middle of an intense conversation about how much they hated Snape and his gang. As it turned out, Sirius Black's brother, Regulus Black, had started Hogwarts that year along with another of his cousins, Nymphadora Black. As usual, Regulus landed himself in Slytherin but Nymphadora was in Ravenclaw; she was the second Black, following Sirius, which had not been placed in Slytherin. Sirius and his cousin were actually on pretty good terms with each other because they both equally hated all the 'pure-blood' mania that came along with the Black name, and both loathed the dark arts that their family was so absorbed in. however it was then when Murphy's Law took affect because Severus Snape, Bellatrix Black, Rodulphos Lestrange and Theodore Nott entered the Three Broomsticks.

The Marauders along with Lily and her friends left the building once Snape's group had entered. It was the last thing any of them wanted to do; start a fight right smack dab in the middle of the Three Broomsticks with a bunch of feature Death Eaters.

James, Sirius and Remus decided to go back up to the castle, but Lily, Dorcas and Anthy went to the post office. Lily wanted to send an Owl to her parents, and Anthy needed to send one to her father, who was in Greece.

The post office was only a few blocks away from the Three Broomsticks, so they reached it in now time. A grumpy looking wizard was at the front desk. "Yes?" he said.

"I need an Owl to deliver a letter to Surrey," Lily said politely.

"And I need one that will deliver a letter to Greece," Anthy explained.

"For the letter to Surrey, that will be 4 Galleons, and to send a letter to Greece will be 15 Galleons and 6 Sickles," the man grumbled out.

Both Lily and Dorcas pulled out their money bags and paid the man accordingly. Then he signaled to hand them the letters, which they did. With that the three girls left the store and began making their way back up to the castle. There wasn't any other reason for them to say, and they had a two foot essay from Professor Bins on Vampire Revolts to finish.

"Hey Lily, did you do that essay for Bins yet?" Dorcas asked.

"Yup. I did it the day he gave it out. Better to get it done early," Lily replied. "And before you even ask, yes you can copy my essay, just not word for word or Professor Bins will figure out you two copied off of me".

"Thanks Lils, you're a life saver," Dorcas burst.

"Lily, what is going on between you and Potter? Today you had a civilized conversation with him and Sirius and you didn't throw out a single insult," Anthy questioned.

"Simple, on the night of the Prefect meeting..." Lily began but was cut off by Dorcas

"Let me guess, you finally admitted to James that you have fancied him ever since your first year," said Lily's best friend.

"Sorry to disappoint you but 1) I don't fancy Potter and 2) to continue my story; we both came to a mutual agreement to 'set aside our differences and work together' because I am Head Girl and him, Head Boy," Lily said simply. That was it. There wasn't anything else to tell.

"Damn Lily, you take all the fun out of life," Anthy said.

"And with pride too," Lily said with a smirk on her face.

The three friends laughed and ran back to Hogwarts as the sun began to set on the horizon.

XVIVX

END CHAPTER. Well that is it for this chapter. This story is coming along much better than I had originally hoped, despite my lack of reviews. Hell, I will even accept flames at this point.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (in a singsong voice) three cheers for the red white and blue...

Okay, enough of that. Happy Independence Day everyone. Unfortunately there isn't any Law and Order marathon going on like their usual is. Shit. Out of sheer boredom last night I went as saw Spider Man 2. Holy shit did that movie SUCK!!!!!! Half the movie was Kristin Dunst screaming her head off in the rain not wearing a bra. Ughh... I DON"T WANT TO SEE HER NIPPLES! They paid more attention to that then the CGI images, which sucked. And when a villain dies, STAY DEAD DAMNIT. If you have seen the ending you know what I mean. I will never see another Spider Man movie EVER again. People, don't waist your money on that stupid piece of shit movie. For all of you who liked the movie, I mean you no offence, but that was two hours of my life that I will never get back.

You know the drill, more reviewsmore chapters. Hell, more flamesmore chapters. Bye. I will try to have 6 out A.S.A.P.

Narya of the fire.


	6. Potions class always did suck

Chapter SIX!!!! BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!  
  
THANK YOU for those of you who reviewed and are sticking around. (Gets on knees) THANK YOU. (If you speak Japanese) ARIGATO GOZAI MASU. (If you speak Spanish) GRACIAS (did I spell that right?).  
  
Songwithoutwordz: yes, I used to live in North Carolina. As a matter of fact, every state Amberle has lived in, I have lived in. Lol. I was born in Texas, moved to Missouri, moved to Utah, moved to Wisconsin, BACK to Texas, moved to New Mexico, moved to North Carolina (and moved three times while still living in Carolina), then moved back to New Mexico. Hell, I have moved more times than most adults have and I haven't even graduated high school. As for the character of Amberle, I did NOT base her off myself. Actually she is based off of a really good friend of mine, but I changed her physical appearance somewhat, and she is very shy, unlike Amberle. So I gave her traits of a bunch of my friends, the only thing from myself I gave her was all the States she was from.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All is property of J.K Rowling, great literary genius of this generation. The only characters I own are Anthy, Amberle and Professor Lantis. All you blood sucking lawyers can go screw off. Besides even if ya did sue me, all you would get is $6.75 because that is ALL I have at the current moment.  
  
Sorry this chapter was a little late, but I have recently been in contact with a lot of my old friends so I have been catching up with them. Heck, the other night I was up to three in the morning talking to my friend in JORDAN. His family is American, but they are living in Jordan for the time being. Also he is coming back to the states soon, so I am really happy. Too bad I moved away, and I won't be able to see him.  
  
One last thing, in case I get too caught up in making fun of Snape, I happen to like Snape. He is an awesome character that clearly hasn't had a good past. I also think that he knows more than what he tells anyone, except for maybe Dumbledore. We already know that Snape's father abused him and his mother right, right? Remember, when Harry broke through Snape's mind in OotP and it said that a Hook-nosed man was yelling at a woman and a dark haired child. Well, now we know where Snape got his hook-nose from, although I think his nose rather compliments him. So don't go thinking that I hate Snape, because I love his character. Poor Snivellus, James was such an ass to him; I can't believe that he de-panted poor Snape. Even though the book doesn't say specifically that he did that because that was when Harry got caught in the Penseive, you know that James did it. Poor Snape.  
  
Also I make reference to a magpie, and just to clear up some of the confusion a magpie is a raven, not a crow. That is all. A bunch of my buddies thought it was a crow, including myself until I read a bird book. Lol.  
  
Just for the record, I am on music high; this time it is Lynyrd Skynyrd. Who says rednecks and hicks can't sing? Hey if you don't like it go to Russia. Sweet Home Alabama, where the skies are so blue. Sweet Home Alabama lord I'm coming home to you... actually I am listening to the song Voodoo Lake. Enjoy...  
  
XVIVX  
  
The Halloween feast went on without much incident, as did the next three weeks at Hogwarts. Lily and James did their Head Duties and not a single fight had broken out between them. As a matter of fact the two of them seemed to be getting along very well. Lily seemed to laugh a lot more around James, and James was eager to please. Dorcas and Anthy had noticed that Lily seemed a lot more lighthearted and almost seemed to delight whenever the Marauders played some trick on an innocent first year. Under normal circumstance, Lily would storm up to James tell him off and the fight would end up with James having a smack mark across his face and Lily being covered in Dungbombs. Sirius, Remus and Peter seemed to be along the same lines as Dorcas and Anthy. Lily's niceness towards the Marauders was enough to cause some concern because at one point Sirius asked if he could copy Lily's essay for Professor Bins, and she actually agreed, which for Lily was a first. It was strange. Even some of the teachers were pondering about the very same thing, Professor McGonagall in particular. Because both Lily and James were in Gryffindor, McGonagall knew the animosity between them more than any other teacher, or student for that matter. It got so strange that at one point McGonagall questioned Dumbledore as to weather any of their heads had been altered by magic.  
  
On a Tuesday evening during dinner, the Marauders, for the first time, sat with Lily and her friends and the conversation went along smoothly. For the first hour or so of dinner nothing out of the ordinary happened in the Great Hall, but then Professor Dumbledore stood up and called attention to the Great Hall. All of the students immediately went silent, as were waiting for him to speak. "This evening, for the first time in Hogwarts, a student will transfer to our school from America. Please give this new student a warm welcome, and show her our good British hospitality," Dumbledore said with his usual twinkle in his eyes. "Minerva, if you please, would you bring out the Sorting Hat," he said to Professor McGonagall. The middle-aged witch rose and walked silently out of the Great Hall.  
  
"Hey, I bet it is that girl we meet down in Hogsmead several weeks ago. Remember, the one we called an American-yank," James whispered in an undertone to Sirius.  
  
"You know what, you're probley right," Sirius whispered back. At that James and Sirius fell silent as Dumbledore signaled to the back of the Great Hall.  
  
Two figures were walking out. One was clearly the lanky figure of Professor McGonagall, and the other was unknown. As the duo stepped into the light of the Great Hall it turned out the transfer student was in fact Amberle H. Adams. James looked at his best friend who was staring intensely at Amberle. Sirius had a reputation of being a playboy in Hogwarts, but he had died down during the middle of his 6th year, and had no girlfriend at the current moment. It looked as if he fancied the new American.  
  
"Everyone, this is Amberle Helen Adams. I hope you will make her feel welcome in Hogwarts," Dumbledore said in a friendly voice.  
  
Professor McGonagall led Amberle to the front of the Great Hall, just in front of the Staff Table, and signaled for Amberle to allow McGonagall to place the Sorting Hat on her head. Unlike the nervous scores of first years when they were in the same situation, Amberle had a rather bored look upon her face as if she had done it a million times in the past. The Sorting Hat took several minutes for it to decide what house to place the American student, but at last it boomed out "GRYFFINDOR".  
  
The table second to the left broke out in applause. Amberle walked over to it and sat in a vacant seat next to a sixth year named Versalillles Johnson. At that the Great Hall returned to its normal atmosphere, and Amberle helped herself to some generous portions of steak.  
  
IVI  
  
The next day Lily was running down the corridors at full speed. She had to make it all the way from the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest (Care of Magical Creatures) to the bottom level of the dungeons where Potions was held. As it stood, she was already late, and was facing a detention from Professor Lantis, and his detentions usual consisted of scrubbing the dungeon floor clean without magic. Of course Lily was from a muggle family so she was fairly good at cleaning without magic, but she hated to do it none-the-less. And to make matters worse, Potions was with the Slytherins.  
  
When Lily had reached the door to the dungeon she tried to make as quite of an entrance as possible, but the second she was inside the door frame Professor Lantis barked out in his oily voice, "Lets see Evans, you are six minutes late so how about six points from Gryffindor. Now hurry up and take your seat or else it will be sixty. And because you chose to e late to my class you will receive detention," he said, his pitiless cold black eyes flashed towards Lily.  
  
"Yes sir," Lily replied with her head down. She quickly took her seat next to Dorcas and Anthy, which turned out to be behind the Marauders. Slowly Lily withdrew her quill and a piece of parchment and began taking notes on the lesson. That bastard {Lantis} was the only teacher who ever had given Lily a detention, and she had only ever received one other detention in her entire life; it was for neglecting to do one of Professor Lantis' essays. Lily bit her tongue from lashing out at him, and paid attention to the lecture.  
  
"Today you will attempt to create a Dream Inducing Potion. It is a potion that will allow the drinker to dream about whatever they desire, depending upon the ingredients that are added. For example sugar will make the drinker have a dream about friendship, a ball of pure cotton for a humorous dream, rose petals for a romantic one, or even chocolate for a sexual dream, and so forth. A complete list of ingredients will be found on the board, "he waved his wand and they appeared." Now the intensity of the dream will depend upon how much of each ingredient is added. However before you even begin to add the special ingredients you need to brew the basic constancy to allow you to have a choice of what you are to dream. For all of my N.E.W.T students you will be paired up and you will both brew the potion AND drink it. I will be the one pairing you, and there will be no same sex pairs," (PERVERTS, not like that) Lantis sneered.  
  
The entire class groaned. Whenever Professor Lantis picked the partners it meant that everyone Gryffindor would be paired with a Slytherin, and vice versa. Unless of course there were two eternal rivals in the same house.  
  
"Do you think it wise to have a member of both genders work on a project than can educe sexually based dreams?" Remus said. It was more to himself than anyone else, but unfortunately for him he was overheard by Professor Lantis.  
  
"No Lupin, because I will be carefully watching what each member puts into the potion. If I find that one of you unknowingly puts in chocolate into the potion without the other's consent there will be severe consequences. I will not put up with raging teenage hormones, and that is why I will be the one pairing you up," Lantis said coldly.  
  
"But there wouldn't be a problem if you just let us work with the same sex," James blurted out. He seemed to be the only one who wasn't intimidated by Professor Lantis.  
  
"A further ten points from Gryffindor Potter, and you can join Evans in detention tonight," Lantis said quickly and coldly.  
  
James shut up because his position as Head Boy could be revoked if he got too many detentions. James loved being on talking terms with Lily, and didn't want to blow it. It was the first time that she didn't try to rip his head off when they talked, and their conversations were rather enjoyable. James learned a lot about her, for example that she hates going home for summer, Lily never did tell him why, and that she is scared of getting on a broomstick. As it turned out Lily wanted to become an Auror like James, and wanted to rid Voldemort of his high power over the wizarding world, and land his Death Eaters in Azkaban.  
  
"When I call your name you will immediately sit with your given partner. Snape you will be with Simmons. Lupin, Meadows. Black, Adams. Potter..." Lantis went on icily.  
  
Not me, anyone but me, Lily thought desperately. It was true that she had been getting along with Potter if the pair of them ended up stuck together to brew a potion that can give the drinker questionable dreams without the drinker's consent, it was likely that their temporary tolerance of each other would fall to ruins. As it turned out, Lily did think better of James since they started performing Head Duties together.  
  
"Evans. Let's see what we make of the school rivals. Lestrange you will be with Johnson," Professor Lantis said. For the next ten minutes he spent pairing people up. Luckily for Sirius and Remus they were paired up with Dorcas and Amberle, apparently Professor Lantis wasn't aware of the 'compromise' made between the Marauders and Lily's group, as wells as Lantis seemed to have no idea that Sirius fancied Amberle. Anthy on the other hand had to be paired up with Severus Snape; everyone seemed to feel sorry for her. Although Snape was an excellent potion brewer, his lack of personality made him a royal pain in the rump to work with.  
  
When Professor Lantis was finished he said, "You have thirty minutes to brew the basic consistency. The instructions will be found on page 185 of Advanced Potions. Begin".  
  
Lily got out her book and turned to the instructed page. Although the prospect of being paired up with James Potter wasn't the brightest one, she decided to take the same approach as she took their Head Duties.  
  
A quarter of an hour later James and Lily on had one ingredient left. The class room was usually silent because each student, with the obvious exception of Lily, James, Amberle and Sirius, was paired with their rivaling house. Surprisingly, Anthy and Snape seemed to cooperate very well to get the potion done. All was going well until;  
  
"DAMNIT POTTER! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO LET IT SIMMER FOR THREE MINUTES BEFORE YOU ADD THE CAMIELLA OIL!" Lily exclaimed at the top of her lungs. This was exactly why Lily hated to be partnered with anyone in potions; Lily lived for order and following directions and she was very good at it, but when someone didn't follow the directions to the dot Lily would go off on that person.  
  
"Evans, a further five points from Gryffindor for being obnoxiously loud. As long the potion has simmer for two minutes it will have no damaging effect. The extra minute is just to make sure that some group of clumsy buffoons don't add the oil too early," Lantis said giving James the evilest smirk he could muster.  
  
Once the thirty minutes were up, Professor Lantis got up again and began lecturing the class "If you have done the procedures correctly your potion should be a clear color. If your potion is silver or a light white then it should still work just fine. Now then, on the desk in front of you, "Lantis waved his wand and with a bang that sounded like a gun the desk appeared, "has all of the other ingredients on it. I have limited each product so that you have to use a bare minimum of three different ingredients. As you add them, you will write down which three you chose and the amount. You all must have the total amount of ingredients that posted on the board. You may continue with your work, "he said. With that Professor Lantis went to his desk and began scribbling down comments on the class's latest homework assignment.  
  
"So Lily, what will it be," James said cheerfully.  
  
"What will what be," Lily said.  
  
"Tut tut, wasn't the school genius paying any attention to what that old bug was saying," James said.  
  
"As for the ingredients, what do you want in your dream?" Lily said quietly. "That doesn't involve snogging someone," she added quickly. If the decision was left entirely up to James, it would be a sure thing that a sufficient amount of chocolate would be included in the potion.  
  
"Damn Lils, you take all the fun out of life," James whined.  
  
"Don't call me Lils".  
  
"Okay my Lily-flower".  
  
Lily laughed. Even she had to admit that James had the boyish charm that made everyone smile; no matter how foul of a mood they were in. Lily's father had told her that if a boy ever called her 'Lily-flower', as her father did, he would be her soul mate. Lily doubted that James would ever be a soul mate, but he was a good friend. She was still somewhat tense around him, but the infamous leader of the Marauders broke through the first twelve or so layers of the ice shield Lily had built around her. "How about we get a cotton ball, which means that you will have a humorous dream?" Lily questioned. Nothing pleased James more than a good joke, and because they would both be drinking Lily wouldn't mind a little humor.  
  
"That sounds good. Hey look at this Lily," James said referring to the long list of ingredients that was listed in the book. "You can even have a dream about world domination if you add a magpie feather. Cool!"  
  
"Because sugar represents friendship, how about we add some of that as well?" Lily questioned.  
  
"Great minds think alike, I was just about to suggest that. Although I don't get why sugar signifies friendship, must be some kind of muggle thing," James remarked. He never did understand muggles.  
  
"That makes two ingredients but we still have to agree on a third one, "Lily said, changing the subject rapidly. Lily was somewhat touchy when it came to how wizards viewed muggles. Even at Hogwarts, Lily had been called a mudblood several times and other such rude terms. It was mainly the Slytherins would were doing it, but Lily hated it. She didn't understand why a person's type of blood had to be so important. Lily's way of thinking was far from rare, as a matter of fact James had shared to her that he hated discrimination against those who were muggle-born, and muggles in general. It was true that he didn't get them, but at least he didn't discriminate them. Lily admired that about James. Even before they had began to get to know each other through Head Duties Lily had known that James was dead set against the Dark Arts and what people did with them. But as time went on Lily found many more admirable qualities that she didn't know about James Potter, as well as some unknown feelings that swelled up inside her.  
  
"Humor and friendship are all that I want in the potion. Or at least all the ingredients that I am allowed to have; I wouldn't say no to a sliver of chocolate mixed in with a magpie feather. You can add whatever ingredient you want, I don't care. As long as it is not..."  
  
"Rose petals," the two of them said in unison. James groaned. That was the bad thing about being partnered with a girl, all most of them wanted was romance. Why do girls like romance so much, James thought to himself.  
  
"Hey, you got your two now I get mine," Lily protested.  
  
"But...," James trailed on.  
  
"James Everett Potter," Lily growled menacingly.  
  
James groaned again. That was not a good sign when Lily used first, middle, and last name. When Lily said that it was a sign that she was about to re arrange someone's face; which she had done before. In James' fourth year, after provoking Peeves to attack Lily with Ink Pellets, the ink was specially made by Sirius and James, it wouldn't come off without the counter spell, she had went over to James and literarily re-arranged his face using very advanced Transfiguration. After her assault, James had an extra eye, his nose was upside down and seemed to be missing his lower lip. Both Lily and James had gotten two weeks worth of detentions, but luckily they were for different teachers. Lily was being punished by Professor McGonagall, and James had to face the wrath of the caretaker Filch for 'befouling the school'.  
  
"Alright, you win. On one condition," James said.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"That you put in no more than three petals".  
  
"Deal. Besides, I couldn't put any more in because we have reached our limit. I'll be right back while I go collect what we need," Lily said.  
  
She rose from her chair; all the while James was getting a good glimpse of her butt, and walked to the table in front of the class room that presented all of the potential ingredients. Lily quickly picked out the three they needed. Once they were added to the potion, it had turned a neo-pink color.  
  
"Is it supposed to look like that," James asked with a look of utter disgust on his face. He could see Sirius laughing at the color of his potion from the corner of his eye. From the looks of things, Sirius was getting a really good laugh too. James also caught Remus' eye and it was clear that he was suppressing, with great difficulty, a rather loud chuckle. Sitting with Sirius, Amberle has a look that suggested that she was breaking a rib to keep herself from laughing, and the look on Dorcas' face was the same. Even Professor Lantis smirked when he saw the color change. Anthy on the other hand kept a straight face, while Snape smirked at the color.  
  
"According to the book no two potions are exactly alike, due to the difference in what each person adds," Lily answered. "It doesn't look to appetizing dose it," added. Truth be told, Lily hated with all her gut the color of pink. Or any neo color for that matter. They were too bright, and pink especially screamed the phrase 'slut'. The main reason she wanted to add the rose petals was because all of the other choices had to do with either sex or world destruction or domination.  
  
Professor Lantis rose again and began talking to the class, "I see that those of you who managed to concoct this correctly are finish. You will each cork a flagon for me, and one for you and your partner. Once you have had your dream I want you to write down all of the details of it as accurately as you can recall. Beware, for I will know if you are lying. All I have to do is look at the color of your potion to determine what you added in it, and if what you dreamed is inconsistent to what is in your potion you and your partner will both receive failing marks," Professor Lantis said with his eyes flashing over at Lily and James. "Before you leave this class, I will see to it that you all drink your potions," Professor Lantis waved his wand and a small glass appeared on each desk. "You will fill the glass to its entirety and drink it. Now," he added acidly.  
  
Both Lily and James took their glasses and dunked them grudgingly into the cauldron. When they drank them an odd flying sensation swept through them but was gone as soon as it had come. Oddly enough it tasted very good. James was reminded of his mother's Brandy Rose Jam that was made from real rose petals (A/N: if you watch Utena, you can guess who my fav character is. Akio-sama). It was the best jam James had ever had, and a secret family recipe. His family had been offered quite a lot of money for the secret recipe, but James' mother declined every person who had offered.  
  
"Your homework is to record your dreams. Class dismissed," Professor Lantis said as the bell rang.  
  
The students began to pour out the class room, and James quickly found Sirius and Remus.  
  
XIXIX (several hours later)  
  
Lily had just gotten out of the shower and was dressed in her pajamas. Her day had been just as bad as potions had turned out. Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle had been giving her a hard time on what color the potion was, and Professor Vector had given Lily another essay. Lily just wanted to get to sleep as fast as she could, and pray with all her might that James didn't slip in any chocolate while she wasn't looking.  
  
That night at dinner, Lily had stuffed her face hopefully to get rid of the idea of the affects of the potion. She had even indulged herself in some chocolate éclairs for desert, something which she rarely did. Sure, afterward she felt like she was going to burst but at least she wasn't thinking about Potter or the potion.  
  
The other two 7th year Gryffindor girls, Adrienne and Rei, just entered the dormitory. They were both a bit on the slow side, and loved to flaunt themselves to boys. Adrienne had thick dark brown hair, while Rei had her hair bleached blonde. Lily never really talked to them, but she knew that they were both Marauders worshipers, and threw Lily looks of the utmost loathing.  
  
As if on cue, Dorcas and Amberle walked in. Since transferring, Amberle had become a good friend to Lily and she was the official fourth member of their group. According to Dorcas, Anthy was still in the library and wouldn't be coming back until much later. "Man, she makes my study habits seem small," Lily said. Dorcas and Amberle laughed. Then the two girls disappeared into the showers, and Lily pulled the curtains around her four poster bed and slowly slipped into a dream abundant sleep.  
  
XIXIXIX (POV change)  
  
James was busily having an animated conversation with Sirius when Remus and Peter walked in. "Pink Prongs? I doubt that Lily would ever agree to that," Remus said. At that it seemed that the laughter that he was working so hard to suppress burst through, and Remus was consumed in fits of hysterics. He was quickly joined by Sirius.  
  
"Hey, it was her idea not mine, "James said to try and keep some of his honor left as he turned a slight shade of red.  
  
"I don't think Professor Lantis will want to know what you will dream," Sirius managed to say in-between fits of laughter. Then Sirius put on his best imitation of Professor Lantis "Before, for I will know if you are lying". That sent the two into even deeper fits of laughter. Even James laughed.  
  
"Oh shut up," James said.  
  
After Remus and Sirius had gotten control of themselves the four friends occupied their minds for the next several hours by playing Exploding Snap. Peter, naturally, was out in the first round (A/N: Take that, u little bastard), and the battle eventually wound down between Sirius and Remus. James had dropped out claiming that he needed sleep because he had to patrol the corridors the next night.  
  
With a loud bang it was proclaimed that Remus was the winner of the match, and the rest of them went to bed. James, with his curtains closed around his bed, was having a mental battle with himself. I am NOT sleepy because I want to see Lily in my dreams, he thought. Evans, he corrected himself a second later. Sure she was beautiful and they had become friends over the past several weeks and James had fancied her for most of his school life but that did not mean that he wanted to see her in his dreams. That would mean that he felt more intimate feelings for Lily, and James didn't.  
  
Oh yes you do, came another voice in his head.  
  
Who is this, James asked himself  
  
I am your inner thoughts; some would like to call it a conscience. I have been silent for many years because you willed me to, but now I am forced to reveal myself.  
  
I didn't know I had a conscience  
  
Like I said, you have willed be to be silent but now that your hormones are raging I am forced to appear.  
  
You make me sound like I am a love sick puppy.  
  
Well aren't you? With Miss Lily Evans.  
  
No, James thought forcibly.  
  
Stop lying to yourself said the other voice even louder.  
  
Get out my head.  
  
How? I am your head.  
  
For the remainder of half an hour James battled it out with himself, he did not care about Lily Evans. Did he?  
  
XVIVX  
  
END CHAPTER  
  
That is it for this chapter. Ha. This is coming along pretty good, if I don't say so myself. And I do say so myself. I am in a good mood right now, and that is why I worked my ass until three in the morning to get this baby done. Main reason I feel good is because I finally am able to get this video card so I can play this fifty dollar computer game I got at Christmas. The video card isn't cheap either, so I am looking forward to playing it.  
  
And for those of you who have played the Fellowship of the Ring on the PC, I HATE having to kill the Balrog. Hell, in The Return of the King on PC, Gollum is easier to kill than the Balrog. My opinion anyway. I have beaten the Balrog before, but since I had to run the recovery program on my computer I lost all my saved games, so I am playing it over again.  
  
You know the drill, more reviews=faster next chapter comes out. All flames will be laughed at and deleted. And I forgot to mention this in my disclaimer but the potion idea IS NOT MINE. I DO NOT own it. It dose NOT belong to me. I don't remember who originally came up with it, but it was NOT me. I did change some aspects about it though, so I am not stealing an exact replica, but the person who originally thought of it said that chocolate is for a sexual dream, and a cotton ball is for a humorous dream. I own all the other elements.  
  
Please review, or e-mail at geishaofrohanyahoo.com  
  
Sayonara Narya, of the Fire 


	7. Dreams and Detentions

Welcome everyone to chapter 7. Things here are going good. Sorry that this chapter took a while longer to pump out. Not much happens in this chapter, but there is some L/J action, but I haven't been very excited to write it. I like chapters with more action, but that is just my style. Sorry again that this took so long.  
  
I saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban again, 3rd time, and it was awesome as always. This time I know that I was annoying the people around me because when Sirius and Harry go off and are talking while looking at Hogwarts, I muttered to myself 'damn Bellatrix Lestrange for killing him in book 5' and this old couple turned around and gave me looks of utter hatred, and it only added when my cell phone went off. ;;; yep, I am not person you want to sit next to in a movie theatre, ESPECIALLY when the movie is based off of a book that I have read, I spend most of the time criticizing the movie and saying that the book is better. And again, Lupin's mustache scares me.  
  
One another note; for those of you who like Peter Pettigrew be warned that I utterly loath Peter and he is hardly mentioned at all in my story. The only times he his mentioned is when Remus transforms, or when he is doing an evil deed for Voldemort. That is ALL mention I will give him. I hate the little bastard with the rage of a thousand suns.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I did, I would kill Peter and Bellatrix very slowly and painfully. All is property of J.K. Rowling.  
  
One last thing, the dream sequences are marked by .  
  
Warning: In this chapter, the rating should be around PG-15 but nothing too bad. Nothing too sour. If you are offended by that kind of material, don't read. No one is forcing you, besides this chapter is mainly Lily/James action. Another warning for you; FLUFF is not my specialty, as a matter of fact I am somewhat new at writing anything fluff like, so you will have to excuse that. Please? Thank you.  
  
Enjoy  
  
XVIX  
  
(Lily's dream)  
  
Lily was slowing walking through the darkened corridors of Hogwarts. It was clearly after hours and Lily knew that she shouldn't be out of bed at that hour, but some force seemed to be pulling her forward. At first Lily questioned it, but as time went on the force had proven itself to be positive, and she didn't fight it. For Lily to along with something that cannot be seen or heard in any sense was a rare thing, but Lily felt as if some invisible force, or feeling, was guiding her.  
  
Eventually Lily had found herself in the Room of Requirement and waiting there was Dorcas, Amberle, Sirius, and Remus. It didn't really occur to Lily that Peter was no where to be found, but because she didn't know much about Peter, Lily didn't care. The Room of Requirement was all draped out in Gryffindor colors, scarlet and gold, and there was a cozy little fire that was emitting bright embers as it crackled in the night. All would be considered normal except what Lily was seeing four eternal rivals doing.  
  
Sirius and Amberle were in the middle of a heated snog session while sitting on a scarlet chair near the fire. Next to them was Remus and Dorcas, they weren't in the middle of snog session but it seemed that the two of them were flirting with each other quite openly, and neither cared about the fact that they were doing it in front of everyone. That for both Dorcas and Remus was a rare thing, because they both liked to keep their composure in front of other people. Sitting alone was James, who was starring to the crackling fire; it seemed that no one had noticed Lily's presence.  
  
Lily cleared her throat expecting to get the attention of everyone, but only James turned his head. Lily felt somewhat grateful for that, because she didn't want to be the one to interrupt Sirius and Amberle, or even Remus and Dorcas. However it almost seemed that the pair of couples didn't even notice each other, and they seemed to be so caught up that when James approached Lily nothing happened.  
  
In a way Lily felt as if she was supposed to be with James alone, and her heart was guiding her that way. It was strange, even for Lily. As James crept closer Lily took a step forward to meet him. James gazed into Lily's piercing green eyes, and for a second the couple seemed to understand each other. Lily felt her heart beat a mile a minute as she gazed up into his warm hazel eyes. A slight blush has crept across Lily's face and James smiled. He seemed to know the affect he was having on her. Lily's heart was literally in her throat, and she was excited at the new sensations that were taking affect on her body.  
  
"Hey James," Lily muttered slyly. She didn't know why that she decided not to use his surname, but at the moment if felt like the right thing to say.  
  
"Hello Lily," James said. It wasn't his normal boyish, goof off voice but instead it was a much more mature and a somewhat huskier tone. Just the line of 'hello Lily' sent chills up her spine, and a wave of a new sensation that Lily had never felt before, lust.  
  
Lily wanted him; there was no way around it. Lily Evans, the perfect model student, Head Girl, arch enemy of the Marauders wanted James Potter. Because she was still a virgin, Lily had never felt that before and it scared her, so she hid her feelings as much as possible.  
  
James grabbed Lily's hand and the two slowly walked out the Room of Requirement, leaving the two couples to do as the pleased. The thought hadn't crossed Lily's mind that James was holding her hand, nor did the thought to pull her hand away. Things seemed 'right' somehow, and it was something that Lily couldn't explain, for one in her life. She just followed the feeling that was in her heart, after all the heart could never lead someone the wrong way, could it?  
  
The couple walked down the dark corridor and to the nearest staircase where they found Snape stuck in one of the trap steps. Snape seemed oblivious to Lily and James' presence, and the pair got a very good chuckle from seeing Snape struggle to get out of the trap stair.  
  
Along the way, they saw several other of the Snape's group in a rather rough predicament, which included Bellatrix being told off by Professor McGonagall and given detention which included scrubbing pond scum of the dungeon floors. The pair continued to walk the halls of Hogwarts until they were outside on the grounds and the stars were sparkling like diamonds in the sky. Throughout the course of walking through Hogwarts the pair had been talking about many things, but most of them Lily could not make out or recollect.  
  
Once Lily and James were outside in the starlight it seemed as if everything was forming itself for the young couple. The moon was full (A/N: this is a dream, so Remus isn't a werewolf) and shined down directly onto the pair. The entire time, Lily's heart had been pounding furiously beneath her breast. It was the most exciting feeling she had ever had in her life. For the first time that night, Lily got a good look at James and his body. It was then that Lily understood why every girl in Hogwarts desired him. He had a slim body, not too lanky but not bulging muscles either, he was built just right, and his messy jet black hair seemed to almost glow in the moonlight, as it reflected off of his head.  
  
Lily's train of thought was interrupted when James was walking closer and closer to Lily. Instead of pulling away as she would normally do, Lily remained her in spot waiting for James to come towards her, and it was the most erotic feeling Lily had ever had. When it seemed that James was practically on top of her, he stopped and in a flash claimed Lily's lips. The whole thing was so quick that it took several seconds for Lily to realize what was happening. He was kissing her, James Potter, was kissing Lily Evans. For a split second Lily considered pulling away, but the thought was immediately discharged as Lily began to kiss back with all her might. She let out a light moan, and dared to open her eyes. When she did, Lily was surprised, and somewhat amused, to see James staring right back at her with his hazel eyes. The pair broke the kiss, and stared at each other. James seemed somewhat taken aback at his daring boldness for kissing Lily Evans, and Lily felt the same way because she returned his kiss ten-fold. But then suddenly the pair broke out laughing and this time Lily made the first move and leaned in to kiss James, a gesture which he was glad to comply.  
  
Lily and James kissed passionately under the full moon. Lily emitted another moan when she felt James' tongue invade her mouth. Happy to comply, Lily's tongue met his and together their tongues danced around in a fit of wild passion. Lily felt herself throb and tingle in a place that she had never felt it before. But it was a feeling that felt good, and that was all Lily needed to know. She felt James' begin to descend onto her full breasts, and Lily seemed to heave forward to answer his request. The pair broke the kiss once again, and Lily said the three little words that she never felt she would say to James Potter "I love you".  
  
James looked like had been expecting Lily to say it, but was surprised that she would say it so soon. James lowered his head to her earlobe and whispered, "I love you, my Lily-flower". Again Lily blushed and let out a girlish giggle, which caused James to chuckle. Again, the pair went back to claiming the other's mouth. Lily moaned again as James' had gone into her shirt and began to fumble with her bra strap. Silently smirking, she went about to feeling his firm chest hidden beneath his black robes. It was warm with desire, and well defined for someone as skinny as him. She seemed to fit against him like a glove, as if the pair of them had been meant for each other since the beginning of time.  
  
Once James had finished with Lily's bra strap it fell out from Lily's robes onto the ground. James had broken the kiss to lift off her shirt. Lily obediently lifted up her arms to allow it to come off easier, which left her chest bare. James quickly tossed it to the ground, and began making hot trails of kisses down her neck. Lily tossed and turned her head at the sensation, it was pure bliss. Eventually through all the pleasure, Lily somehow managed to get his shirt off and was enjoying the feeling of his bare flesh against hers. James soon found Lily's right breast and began to play around and toy with it, causing Lily to moan out his name.  
  
All feelings of conflict that she used to have for James were gone and all she could think about was him until...  
  
(END DREAM) ((A/N: I told you that it wasn't too bad)  
  
Lily sprung out her bed and awoke with a slight scream. Quickly glancing around, Lily was relieved that she hadn't woken anyone up in her dormitory. But then a sudden rush of anger swept through Lily! That bastard said he hadn't put any chocolate in to the potion! If it is the last thing I do I swear that I will have my revenge, Lily thought angrily. She glanced over at her watch which was lying on the floor; it read 4:57 AM. Lily sighed, she knew that she wouldn't get back to sleep, not after the dream she had about James Potter. But what scared her most of all that Lily actually liked the dream, and hadn't awoken the minute that bastard had kissed her. Lily mentally growled again, and slowly got up and went to the common room. Outside the window, a feint orange glow was rising over the mountains that surrounded the Forbidden Forest. She had enough sleep to get along for the rest of the day, though still groggy Lily got dressed and went into the Common Room.  
  
The fire was still crackling, but on the verge of dying out. Lily glanced at a large oak table, and she found that she had left her book on the table from the previous day. Lily gave a slight smile, picked up her book and began to read where she had left off.  
  
Around an hour latter a sudden rustle of cloths could be heard, and Lily lifted her head up and saw the strangest creature she had seen at Hogwarts scurrying across the floor. Lily gawked at it for a second before the creature noticed Lily. That has to a House Elf, Lily thought excitedly. She knew that Hogwarts housed a large quantity of House-Elves but she had never seen one. The Elf, which looked to be more male than female but was hard to tell the difference, glanced up at Lily and gave her a large smile. Lily laughed softly and went said, "Are you a House-Elf?".  
  
"Me miss? Why yes miss, Slinker tis a House-Elf miss (A/N: I have never written in House-Elf before, so you have to excuse me if I get anything wrong)," he said in a high pitched voice.  
  
"Are you always up here cleaning before the sun rises?" Lily questioned.  
  
"Slinker is most sorry to disturb you miss, but must excuse Slinker, for Slinker is doing his job miss," the little creature said. His tennis ball sized eyes looked up at Lily again and asked, "You miss, if Slinker may be permitted to say, are you Lily Evans?" he said.  
  
"How did you know my name?" Lily asked with a puzzled look on her face.  
  
"Young master, James Potter, whishes Slinker to ask miss a question," Slinker asked with an almost fearful voice, like Lily would jump up and begin beating the crap out of him.  
  
"Uh, yeah sure, go ahead," Lily said, having a feeling like she knew exactly what Slinker would ask.  
  
"Young master would like to know if miss would go out with him," the Elf asked.  
  
"Tell Potter that I said, no and if he asks me again I will throttle him," Lily said cheerfully.  
  
"Yes miss, I will tell young master what you said," Slinker answered, and with a pop he was gone.  
  
Lily sighed and went back to her book. When would Potter ever get the hint that she did not want to go out with him? On the other hand, Lily did give him credit for persistence. Normally after being smacked just once any other guy would give it up, but not the tenacious James Potter. Lily chuckled  
  
XIX (James' P.O.V I am not going to be writing his dream, it is basically the same thing that Lily had, only through his P.O.V so I don't see the point of writing the whole thing over again)  
  
Up in the Boy's Dormitory James was sweating in bed. That dream, he thought to himself. It was true that James had fanaticized about doing that very thing to his Lily-flower, but to actually see it was too much for him. For a fleeting second James wondered if Lily had the exact same dream, but the thought was discarded because if she did have the same dream, Lily would have literarily burst into his dorm and beat the living shit out of him, accusing him of putting chocolate in the potion. James laughed, oh how he was tempted to add some chocolate to the potion, but he had refrained, mostly because he would have to describe his dream to Professor Lantis and the other because he would have to answer to Lily. It was true that night that James had eaten a Chocolate Éclair for dessert, but he didn't think that it would have any affect to his dream.  
  
It shouldn't have any affect; if it did shouldn't Professor Lantis have mentioned it? Knowing that bastard he wouldn't, James thought savagely to himself. Unable to get the idea out of his head, James picked up his bag and began rummaging around it for his Potions book, An Advanced Guide to Potions. James plucked the book from his bag and placed it on his lap, and began turning pages to find the pages on the potion. Once he found it James read out loud, "Once the drinker has consumed the potion he/she must not eat anything for another hour, thus affecting the potion. Anything in the food that is on the list of ingredients will have an effect on the drinker's dream..." James trailed on.  
  
Well that explained that, James thought as he threw done his book, which landed on the floor with a plunk. James began to settle back down into bed when he noticed a House-Elf cleaning the carpet in the dormitory. James glanced at the Elf, and he turned around and said to James, "Is there something Slinker can get the young master," in his squeaky voice.  
  
James smirked and thought to himself, this should be the perfect way to wake up Lily. James turned to Slinker and said, "Yes actually. Could you tell a girl, Lily Evans, if she would go out with me, James Potter?" James said with a large grin on his face.  
  
"Yes sir, Slinker can. Anything else Slinker can get you?" he questioned.  
  
"No that is it, thanks a lot Slinker," James said. Slinker disappeared in a pop of smoke, and James went back to sleep.  
  
VIV (after lessons)  
  
Lily sighed moodily. She had forgotten that she had detention for that git, Professor Lantis. Even the teacher's pet, Lily Evans, had to admit that Professor Lantis was nothing but a no good lout. He treated all of his students like scum, as was the opinions of the students. That morning at lunch, Lily had run into Professor McGonagall who had given her a warning that if she got another detention, her badge would be at stake. Lily apologized for her behavior during potions, and left the Great Hall in a thoroughly bad mood. The rest of her day hadn't gotten any better either. During Defense against Dark Arts one of the Slytherins had cursed her from across the room, and her eye brows became so bushy that Lily had to go see the school nurse. When she had gotten back, Lily had the named 'mudblood' thrown at her more times than she could count. Lunch was the only part of her day that didn't suck; as a matter of fact she enjoyed an hour of talking with Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle. But it all went down hill from there; once the Lunch Bell had rung Lily made her way down to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where Professor Kettleburn assigned everyone a two foot essay on why the fairy had become such a large part of muggle fiction. Once Care of Magical Creatures was done, Ancient Runes was no better. Professor Vector gave everyone a pop quiz, which Lily was sure she passed but it wasn't without sufficient help from Anthy, who was sitting across from her. Then at dinner Lily had received an Owl from Lantis saying that she and James were to meet him in the library, after their Head Duties. Their Head Duties consisted of extracting Peeves from six different suites of armor, and rescuing Mrs. Norris from being hanged off of a chandelier (A/N: Sorry, I love Peeves). With only fifteen minutes till her detention began, Lily was beginning to lose her patience.  
  
"Hey Lils," came the voice of Anthy.  
  
"'lo Anthy," Lily responded. "By the way, thanks for Ancient Runes, you save my life".  
  
"Anything to help out a friend. Besides it could have been worse, you could have been Peter," Anthy joked. During the course of the quiz, Peter had been caught cheating for sneaking notes up his sleeve.  
  
Lily grinned. She checked her watch, and said 'farewell' to Anthy and made her way down to the Library. Lily knew that she would be the first one there because James most likely didn't know the way to the library. Must be a new record; James and Sirius both in the library during the same school year, Lily thought to herself in a pathetic attempt to cheer herself up. She had a shrewd idea of what she and James would be doing in detention. Earlier that day, Lily had heard Madam Prince screaming at a group of first years for knocking down several shelves of books. It would take hours to clean up, and put back into order.  
  
Lily groaned as she reached the library, and to no surprise the shelves of books that the first years had knocked down had not been cleared, and standing in the middle of the library was Professor Lantis. Lily approached him, and he was the first one to speak, "I take it that you know what to do here Evans? And once you are done with those, you will shelf all of the returned books that have been checked in," he said with slight amusement in his voice. "I have not the patience to wait for Potter, you will begin immediately and when he shows up you will repeat my instructions. I will check in on you periodically. When you are done, the both of you are free to go," he added. With a sweep of his black cloak, Professor Lantis walked away clearly in the directions of the dungeons.  
  
Lily gazed at the stacks of books, and the fallen shelves. "This is going to take all night," she muttered. "Might as well do the easiest part first". Lily lifted her wand and muttered, "Wingardium Leviosa". The shelves that were knocked over floated in mid air, and fell back on the ground standing up-right. As Lily began to walk towards the endless amounts of books, she heard behind her, "You're going to start the fun without me?"  
  
"Potter," Lily growled as James' figure came into full view. "You're late," she muttered.  
  
"Actually I am on time, you are the one who is early," James said.  
  
Lily could feel her blood boil. No matter the fact that she and James were on better terms with each other, Lily could still feel her temperature rising and a mask of red coming onto her face out of sheer anger.  
  
"There now, there is no reason to get mad. So what do we have to do," James asked.  
  
"Isn't it a bit obvious?" Lily said, pointing to the stacks and stacks and stacks of books. "And once we are done with those we have to put the new ones that have been checked in today in their proper place. Professor Lantis said once we are done with that we are free to go," she finished.  
  
"Well then let's get to it," James said pulling up his sleeve. He marched over to the books and began stacking them up to make sorting them a bit more easy.  
  
Despite her anger, Lily let out a laugh at James' eagerness at doing the work set on them. "Oi Evans! I can't do all this on my own," he called.  
  
"Coming," Lily said.  
  
Around two and a half hours later, James and Lily had managed to stack up all the books and arrange them in alphabetical order. The time was around 11:45 and Lily let out a sigh of relief. She and James grinned at each other and began placing the books in their proper places on the shelves, according to the alphabet. Because the shelves were around six to eight feet taller than James and Lily the both found a ladder and began placing the books in their proper place. There was only one ladder so they took half hour shits of who was passing the books up, and who was on top of the latter. For the first hour and a half the pair worked in silence until James broke it by exclaiming that Professor Lantis had his head stuck up his ass.  
  
"I can agree with you there, Potter," Lily said.  
  
"You mean the studious Lily Evans thinks that a Professor has his head stuck up his ass," James remarked with his voice full of sarcasm. "Now I have seen everything".  
  
"Not only dose he have his head stuck up his arse, it is so far up there that he can see out his mouth," Lily added. Lily was on the verge of asking James if he had the same dream she had, but decided against it. When waiting for Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle to arrive during lunch, Lily was reading up about the potion, to find out if Potter had indeed put in some chocolate without her consent. But then it hit Lily like a ton of bricks that the éclair she had eaten during the previous night must have had an affect on the potions, so she wasn't so inclined to rip of Potter's gentiles and shove them down his throat. Lily was currently on top of the ladder, and somewhat shaken up about being more than six inches off the ground. She hated heights, which was why she hated being on a broom so much. During her first year at broomstick practice, someone, James no doubt, had jinxed her broom to buck her off when it rose into the air. Lily ended up breaking her leg and arm, so since then she had always hated being up high.  
  
"Hey Evans, are you purposely being slow so that we stay here all night," James teased.  
  
"Up yours Potter. For your information I happen to despise being more than six inches off the ground," Lily said.  
  
"Such language," mocked James.  
  
"Oh...shut up!" exclaimed Lily, throwing a book at his head.  
  
James laughed and said, "Lily, your aim is terrible as always. You wouldn't stand a chance if you were a Chaser".  
  
"How about this then...," Lily threatened. She reached for the thickest book she could find which happened to be An Eclyopedia of Toadstools and aimed it directly for James' head. She turned around slightly and threw it at him with all her might, but the book landed six feet away from James. However in the process Lily had lost her balance on the ladder, and began to wobble around. In a panic, Lily shifted her weight too quickly and lost her balance completely and she found herself falling to the ground. Lily let out a high pitched scream, but when she landed Lily found whatever she landed on was soft. With a thud, Lily looked around and noticed it wasn't what she landed on, but who she landed on. "James," she exclaimed.  
  
"You think you could get off me...now," James stuttered out. Lily quickly removed herself form him, and stood up. James sat up, let out a cough and said, "Now that was a close one. You alright Lily?"  
  
"Err...yes. Now that is exactly why I hate heights," Lily said. She had trouble explaining to herself the blush that had come across her face, and the fast beating of her heart.  
  
James stood up and said, "Good point Lily," with his famous grin, that stretched from one ear to the other  
  
Lily couldn't help but laugh. She laughed so hard that her ribs began to hurt, and James also joined in.  
  
James couldn't help but notice how beautiful Lily Evans was when she was happy and laughing. Her magnificent eyes seemed to shimmer with sparkles, and her smile made her face glow.  
  
Three hours later Lily and James successfully managed to complete their detention. They were placing the last book on the shelf when Professor Lantis walked in, and inspected them. "Well I suspect that a third year could have done the same task in a faction of the time, but this will do. You may go".  
  
"Thank you Professor," the two said in unison. Lily and James practically ran out of the library and back up to the Gryffindor Common Room. The time was around two thirty in the morning. As Lily was marching up the stairs to go to her dormitory she remembered that she had left her wand in the library. Mentally smacking herself Lily turned around and took off towards the Library.  
  
James saw Lily double back, he figured that she must have left something behind. But as he reached the 7th year boy's dormitory, his gut told him that something wasn't right. Grudgingly, James also doubled back after Lily. His gut feeling was never wrong, and something was about to happen to Lily.  
  
XVIX (END CHAPTER)  
  
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I love cliffies. Sorry this chapter is a little late. I hope I got the romanceticnes right, I know that isn't a word. Although I bet some of you were expecting me to write a fully fledged lemon. Well, SURPRISE! Lol. You all know the drill, the more reviews = the faster I will have the next chapter out. All flames will be laughed at and deleted.  
  
Just because I felt like saying this, I took a quiz the other day, "Which Lord of the Rings character flaw do you have", or something to that nature and I got Elrond and his PMS. I have to laugh at that. My friend got Aragorn and his Hydrophobia. Well anyone who has been reading my captions they will know that I Elrond's character flaw is exactly like me. When I get in a bitchy mood I stay in a bitchy mood.  
  
And finally a piece of advice to live by, never watch the entire series of Shoujo Kakumei Utena in one day. That will give you one hell of a headache. I would know.  
  
That is it for now  
  
Sayonara Narya of the fire 


	8. Bad Encounters and the marvels of Quiddi...

Welcome to Chapter 8. I got so many reviews on the last chapter, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Bows down) I thank all thee who has reviewed. I have been thinking that I may need to up the rating of my story. I have the next eight or so chapters planed out in my head and certain things happen that I feel that I should up the rating to R, even though the real rating should be around PG-15/16. It is just an idea; I will have to get a lot further to make an final decision.  
  
Also I made a mistake in one of my other chapters. I had originally thought that Tonks was blasted off the Black Family tree because SHE was the one who married a muggle, Ted Tonks. When someone pointed that out, I re-read that chapter in OotP, and as it turns out that person was right. Sorry about that mistake. (Hits self over head) I know, I'm a baka, no need to say it.  
  
Currently listening to The Two Towers soundtrack, I am on the song Isengaurd Unleashed. If you are like me, and you analyze the music in the movie and are able to name each track the songs come form at any given moment from the soundtracks and movies, then you know at the beginning of the song is the music that plays when that Uruk-Hai bastard kills poor Haldir. I know that he dies in the book, but not at Helms Deep, as a matter of fact he dies during an assault on Lothloiren. So why have him die in Helm's Deep, huh? HUH? Those bastards.  
  
Note: this is just my take on the goings on at Hogwarts when the Marauders were there, but I believe that Peter was slipping information to Voldemort during their seventh year, but he didn't become a fully fledged Death Eater until after he left Hogwarts. So that is what is what will be happening in my fic. I think the same thing for Bellatrix as well, only she was just passing on information about Dumbledore, and not the Potters. Well that is just my silly take on everything, it will all be more clear by the time Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince comes out. I wonder who the Half Blood Prince is; I don't think it is a new character but just someone that we don't know anything about. I personally think that it is either Dumbledore (we were NEVER EVER told that Dumbledore is pureblood, half blood, or muggle-born. Rowling NEVER says that, and he is powerful enough and he plays a major role), Snape (face it people, we don't know jack shit about Snape. Hell he could easily be the father of Luna Lovegood for all we know. No I don't think he is the father of Luna Lovegood, but you know what I mean) or James Potter (I know that most of us assume that he is pureblood, but Rowling has never said out and out, James Potter was a pureblood/half blood/muggle-born). Those are just my theories.  
  
Disclaimer: All is property of J.K Rowling. Nothing but Anthy, Amberle and Professor Lantis are mine. All you blood sucking lawyers can go screw a tree, because I do not own them. Besides if you sued me, you would get.... ABSOLUTLY NOTHING! MUAHAHAHAHAHAH! A couple of the names I use in this chapter are from the Celtic myth of Nuada and the Silver Arm, and I don't own those either. It is a pretty cool myth, and for those of you who have played the PC game, Beyond Atlantis, you know where a bunch of the names came from. That is one friggan awesome game; the only bad thing is you have to have an IQ of 160 to beat it without a walkthrough. I managed to get through the Ireland stage, and half of the Maya stage without help, but then I got to China and HOLY CRAP was that hard, especially when you are in the turtle room that took me almost four hours to understand. The part in Hell was pretty cool though, and Tan-Yun was a cool character, even if he was pushy and demanded that damn mushroom of immortality. Took me a while to understand how you got the correct order of stamps too, on the back of the fan that girl in the red china dress is the correct order of stamps. The hard part is finding which animal gives you certain stamps. Ughh....that took forever.  
  
By the way, I know what happens to Lily in this chapter is extremely overdone, but it had to happen for later plot developments. Or not-so-later plot developments. (Snicker)  
  
Enjoy chapter 8  
  
XVIX  
  
Lily walked the darkened corridors of Hogwarts and made it back to the library. As she thought, Lily found her wand lying on one of the tables. After mentally smacking herself for leaving it Lily put her wand back into her robes and continued back to the Gryffindor Common Room. It was very much unlike Lily to forget anything, much less her wand, the most important thing she owned. She glanced around the dark corner to make sure that there wasn't a teacher on the prowl and Lily made a quick dash up the dark corridor. Running into a teacher would be the worst thing she could do, especially if it was McGonagall or Lantis. Lily pushed the thoughts aside, but then a soft chuckle was heard.  
  
Lily stopped dead in her tracks. Only Professor Lantis would laugh like that whenever he caught a student. She swallowed the lump in her throat and turned to see the person who emitted that chuckle. It was a student! Lily couldn't believe it, but as she looked at the student Lily recognized him at once as Rodulphos Lestrange of Slytherin. He was stocky with lanky hair, the color of dead grass. Rodulphos was most known for his involvement in the so-called, 'Dark Arts Group of Hogwarts'. But after remembering that she had a Head Girl Badge, Lily got her voice back and said to Lestrange, "What are you doing here at this time of night? You are not Head Boy nor are you a Prefect. I would suggest that you go to bed before I alert one of the Professors," Lily said in the bossiest voice she could conjure given the situation.  
  
"Has the poor little mudblood lost her way?" Rodulphos mocked in his ice cold voice that sent shivers up Lily's spine.  
  
"I guess I do need to inform one of the Professors that you are out of bed at this hour," Lily said. She turned around and began walking in the direction of Madam Prince's office. Lily knew that Madam Prince couldn't do much because he wasn't in the library or destroying any property but Rodulphos Lestrange gave Lily the creeps and she wanted to get back to her warm and safe bed as soon as possible.  
  
But as Lily began to head towards Madam Prince's office, Rodulphos sprang behind Lily and grabbed her wrist. Lily let out a small scream. "Ten points from Slytherin, Lestrange. If you don't let me go I will make if fifty points," she threatened.  
  
"That is if you can get the words out of your mouth," Lestrange mocked as he pulled out his wand and muttered,"Silenceio". Lily immediately lost her voice, although it was clear to the eye that she was screaming out a combination of curses, and swears so bad that it would make a sailor blush. "Much better. Now I don't have to listen to your over-sized mouth," Rodulphos said. Lily mouthed something along the lines of, 'Take this off me now you ass-faced bastard,' but one couldn't be certain. "Now that I that I have your attention, it would be in your best interest to not struggle," he said.  
  
Rodulphos began to circle Lily like a piece of meat that he was eyeing with hunger. "It would seem that you have been getting in the way of our plans, mudblood. Of course, you haven't done anything yet but it is always best to eliminate the threat before it strikes, wouldn't you agree mudblood? Yes, you and Potter would pose quite the threat against us and now we are forced to take care of it," mocked Lestrange. "But seeing as how what a beautiful mudblood you are, I think that I can make some use of you before your time is here".  
  
Lily was having some trouble absorbing the situation, but she knew that she wouldn't have enough time to absorb it completely if she wanted to get out of this situation. That bastard, Lily thought savagely. I may not be able to say aloud any spells but everyone of the male sex has a weakness, thought she. While waiting for an opportune moment, Lily noticed a smirk a mile wide lie on that bastard's face. It was clear that he expected Lily to comply to his every will if she wanted to survive. For a split second he paused in front of Lily and that was when she rammed her knee into every man's weakness. A wave of pride washed across Lily as Rodulphos lay sprawled across the ground clutching his groin.  
  
"Y-y-you b-bi-bitch," he managed to stammer out. Lily smiled, and pulled out her own wand and began to mutter the counter curse that would allow her to speak but Rodulphos bellowed out, "CRUCIO". The spell hit Lily dead in the chest and she fell down feeling as if a thousand white hot knives had been stabbed all throughout her body. Lily screamed like she hadn't screamed in her life, but no sound came out. Once the pain began to subside, Rodulphos cried out "CRUICO" again. It was pain beyond anything she had felt in her life, pain almost beyond endurance. She felt as if she was going to die. Again the pain began to die away, but this time Rodulphos had rose to his feet and picked Lily up by the collar of her uniform. "That ought to teach you," he spat at her. Lily didn't do anything but stare him down with a look that reflected nothing but pure hatred, a loathing so pure that it rid her of all other emotion. She was doing her best to reach her wand and curse that bastard away from her, but the after affects of the curse had her sweaty and shaking. If only I could reach my wand, Lily thought desperately. Her lack of submission caused Rodulphos to lose his patience and he threw his hand back and smacked Lily across her check with all his might, leaving a bright purple bruise.  
  
"RICTUSEMPRA," roared a voice from behind. Rodulphos didn't have enough time to react, and the stunning spell hit him right smack dab square in the gut. With a plunk, the limp body of Rodulphos Lestrange lie sprawled out in the floor. Shakily Lily stood up to see the dim outline of James Potter.  
  
"James," Lily whispered so that only she could hear it. Lily's heart had begun to subconscious beat a mile a minute again with his mere presence, and Lily did not fight the relief she felt at that moment. "James...," she muttered again.  
  
"Lily are you okay?" questioned James with the most concern he had in his voice that anyone had ever heard. His hazel eyes shined though the darkness with concern, and it would almost seem...they shined with love. "Lily ...," he trailed on. Lily's bright green eyes which also shone through the night were brimmed with tears.  
  
"JAMES," Lily exclaimed and she flung herself into his chest and began to sob into it. James just stood there wide-eyed. He had seen them on the Marauder's Map, but the map didn't tell what the two individuals were doing. James had seen that bastard on the map, and his suspicions were confirmed. James began stroking Lily's head in comfort, and just allowing her to cry into his cloths. James had arrived just in time to see Lestrange slap Lily and that was when he stunned him. But his train of thought was soon interrupted by the sound of several teachers marching rapidly up the stairs. Without explanation, James cupped a hand over Lily's mouth and threw his Invisibility Cloak over the pair of them. He could hear Lily breathing rabidly and signaled to her to be quite. She too mush have heard the teachers because it was then when the corridor was silent enough to hear a pin drop.  
  
Professor McGonagall, Madam Prince, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Lantis and Professor Flynn, head of Slytherin house came rushing to see the body of Rodulphos Lestrange. While under the cloak, James and Lily heard every word that was spoken.  
  
"What happened here?" Professor Flynn growled. He was a stocky man with thick grey hair and eyes. His eyebrows were so bushy they seemed to cover his eyes, and many wondered how he could see. Oddly enough Professor Flynn was Defense against Dark Arts teacher, and rather friendly to everyone. On the other hand, Professor Flynn was a man never to be crossed; it could be argued that he had taken a leaf out of Alastor Moody's bucket.  
  
"It looks as if someone stunned him," Professor Lantis said.  
  
"But who would be out at this hour? The only students who had detention were Potter and Evans, and Owen confirmed that the two had gone back to the Gryffindor Tower," said Professor McGonagall.  
  
"I told you what I knew, all I heard was this young man making quite a ruckus at this time of night, and I knew that he wasn't a Prefect or Head," Madam Prince said simply. With skin as wrinkled as her heart, Madam Prince turned around and went back to her office.  
  
"Well someone had to have stunned him. Or more likely the fool acted like his usual idiotic self and the stunning spell he was attempting backfired," Lantis said coldly.  
  
"Well it looks like he was stunned by the Rictusempra spell, which doesn't have a counter curse until it wears off. Let's go a head and take him up to Poppy. By the looks of things he won't be waking up for a few days," Professor Dumbledore said.  
  
"I will find out who did this to my student, and make sure he is expelled," Flynn said dangerously as he pulled out his trunk and magically levitated him up to the Hospital Wing. Professor Flynn saw to it that Rodulphos made it to the Hospital Wing while the rest of the teachers went back to bed. Several minutes later when the coast was clear, James and Lily ran at full speed up to the Gryffindor Tower.  
  
Once the pair was back in the tower James asked Lily again what happened. Lily seemed too shaken up to answer. James didn't want to press the issue if Lily wasn't ready to talk about it. Just as James went up to his dormitory, Lily said softly "Yes Potter".  
  
"Yes to what, Lily," James asked with a puzzled look on his face, thankful that it was dark.  
  
"To say thanks, I will go out with you," Lily said with a smile.  
  
"You...WHAT?" James nearly yelled. After being attacked, and barely avoided expulsion, and a detention KNOW Lily wanted to go out with him. The way a girl's mind worked never did make any sense.  
  
"Hush, before you wake up the whole tower. Next Hogsmead visit I will go out with you on a date. We can do whatever you want. My way of saying thank you," Lily said.  
  
"Ughh okay. Night Lily," James managed to spit out. As Lily walked up to the girl's dormitory, James felt like his quality of life had just shot through the room. He felt like yelling to the world that he would soon be going on a date with Lily Evans, the one girl that resisted the charm of the Marauders, and the girl he had been head over heels for since his third year. James had a grin from ear to ear, and was in pure bliss all they to his dormitory and when he eventually fell asleep Lily's beautiful face graced his dreams.  
  
VIV (next morning at breakfast)  
  
James was still feeling like a million Galleons the next morning during breakfast. He even commented on what a nice day it promised to be, to which Sirius asked him if he had been smoking Floo Powder. Even though the next visit to Hogsmead was almost a month away, James was counting down the nanoseconds. As it turned out the next Hogsmead visit was on the day everyone got out for Christmas Vacation, so the village wouldn't be packed with as many students. When he was added liberal amounts of marmalade to his toast was when Sirius had asked about why he had been acting like he had been smoking Floo Powder.  
  
"Prongs that is it! Saying that today looks like a beautiful day, having a look of pure bliss on your face, and not making faces at Snape OR Lily; either you have gone mad or you had sex with Lily Evans last night," Sirius said with a disgusted look on his face.  
  
"Even better, I got a date off of Lily Evans last night during detention," James said. Sirius chocked on his food, Remus dropped his orange juice spilling the table cloth, and Peter's jaw dropped.  
  
"You WHAT! What did you have to do, resort to blackmailing her saying that you will curse her family if she doesn't go out with you?" Sirius gawked. It was amazing, he was the first guy that didn't have to be a studious know it all to score a date with Lily Evans. Sirius had to commend his friend on his amazing charm, nothing but that would have worked Lily Evans over.  
  
"No, I asked her out and she said yes," James said simply, choosing purposely to leave out what happened outside the library.  
  
"Prongs, I believe you are leaving out the part where you put Lily under the Imperious curse and forced her to agree," Remus said.  
  
"Gees, Padfoot, Moony. You are acting like I am a pushy prick whose only purpose in life is to get everyone of the female sex into bed, "James said with mock insult in his voice and on his face.  
  
"I wouldn't say a prick, but yeah something along those lines," Sirius said.  
  
"Shove it," James said.  
  
"So you didn't blackmail her or curse her?" Peter squeaked (A/N: Die peter. Die.)  
  
"Nope. She agreed 110%, "James said proudly.  
  
New that James Potter and Lily Evans were going out spread throughout the school life wildfire. It was due mainly to the fact that the most popular guy in Hogwarts was going out with the most studious and short tempered girl in Hogwarts. Guys had been flocking to James congratulating him on scoring Lily Evans. Many of them claimed that they had asked her out but only received a large red, hand shaped mark across their face that refused to go away. Girls were throwing Lily looks of the utmost loathing, while attempting to curse Lily in the halls for going out with James Potter. The Slytherins seemed, however, unaffected and only resorted to their usual name calling, or in Snape's case attempting to curse the Marauders even more. That on the other hand only ended with Snape in the Hospital Wing sprouting dog ears and a tail. Even the teachers seemed to know about their date. Well then again, the teachers were the first ones to hear because they always had to deal with the animosity between the two. News that they were going out seemed to shock them, well all but Professor Dumbledore.  
  
Dumbledore had purposely paired them up as Head Boy and Head Girl. Originally he considered Remus for the position as Head Boy but then he figured that James could use a little more responsibility, and he may like pranks but he had his heart in the right place. Dumbledore seemed to know that the two would eventually get together. Lily had claimed the spot as Head Girl since her fifth year when she was awarded her first Prefect Badge. He seemed to know that opposites attract, and kept an eye on the two. James obviously realized this much more sooner than Lily, but didn't really know what to make of it. Watching the pair constantly bicker always brought an extra twinkle in Dumbledore's blue eyes.  
  
However as mid-November set in the talk of the castle was no longer that Lily and James were going out, but the up-coming Quidditch Match; Gryffindor verses Slytherin. Tension between the two rival houses reached an all time high. Dorcas eventually found herself in danger of being ambushed by the Slytherins because she was a Beater on the Gryffindor team. James too was in literally mortal danger after an attempt to curse the bones out of his arm on the night before the Quidditch match. Bellatrix Black, Severus Snape, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle ended up cursing James while he was in the library, and he lost half his bones in his left hand. Of course James got the last laugh because he managed to curse them back with his Bat-Boggy curse. Unfortunately all this took place in front of Madam Prince, and James got thirty pointes taken away from Gryffindor(fifteen for him and Sirius), and ninety points were subtracted from Slytherin (15 for Bellatrix, Snape, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle). James ended up in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the night, waiting for his bones to re-grow. Lily visited him for a short while, and whished him good luck for the Quidditch match the next day.  
  
On Saturday morning, James woke up with all his bones in tack. After one last check up from the nurse, he was free to go. James made his way down to the Great Hall where it exploded with applause when he entered, with three fourths of the school rooting for a Gryffindor victory. The Slytherins on the other hand welcomed James with a series of boo's, but they couldn't do anything else under the watchful eyes of McGonagall and Lantis. The two of them would be glad for an excuse to give a student detention. James took a seat next to Sirius, Remus and Peter. The four of them chatted away until they saw Dorcas leave the table and head off to the locker rooms to get changed. After saying farewell, and cheers of good luck, James took off to the locker rooms. Half way he was met up by the Gryffindor Seeker, Nuada (pronounced: New-Ah-duh) Fomachah (Fo-maa-ha). He was a lanky boy with stringy brown hair and chocolate colored eyes. He wasn't exactly the friendliest Seeker the team ever had, but the boy had talent.  
  
After James had changed into his scarlet Quidditch robes, he waited by the doors of the locker rooms for the rest of the team to arrive. Dorcas was the second finished, followed by Nuada. "Time to kick the Slytherin team's ass...again," Dorcas said.  
  
"And kick it with pride," Nuada said.  
  
Soon fellow Chasers, Aine Midge a flame haired Irish girl with eyes the color of red wine, and an attitude to match the color of her hair, and Felin had arrived. The pair was twin brother and sister, and both had amazing talent. Clutching his Silver Arrow 44, James was on the lookout for the remaining Chaser, other Beater and Keeper. A boy with hair the color of corn soon arrived, Robert Macmillan, the team's Keeper. After five more minutes the other Beater, a boy with dark brown hair and eyes of raven that went by the name of Hunter Bragg arrived with a smug look on his face, and the last Chaser, a girl with silver blonde, short cut, curly hair and grey eyes Mia Seizmore had at last made it. For another ten more minutes the team discussed their strategy for beating the Slytherins, which was simply hit the Bludger to the face of every single Slytherin Chaser, and take out the Seeker first. "I am counting on you two, Dorcas, Hunter. Show them that we can kick their ass any day of the weeks," James said. Both Dorcas and Hunter smirked and laughed the thousands of footsteps could be heard in the locker rooms as the students of Hogwarts all went over to the stands.  
  
At the sound of Madam Wood's whistle, the team went forth onto the field. Madam Wood was quite a young and good looking witch that had the allure of a dragon. She was a fair player, and an overall nice person. But she did tend to get a little over the edge about Quidditch, claiming that it was her life's work. At one point the Asian looking witch was a member of the Chudley Cannons, but the kicked her off the team for violating the team's 'inter-dating policy'. Once onto the field, James and the other Slytherin team captain, Kirk Jadus, who resembled a rather pissed off alligator, stared each other down. "Captains, shake hands," ordered Madam Wood. James and Kirk exchanged looks of 'my-team-is-better-than-your-team-is-and-we-are- going-to-win' and shook the other's hand, but it looked as if they were trying to break the other's wrist. Satisfied, Madam Wood blew her whistle again, and released the Bludgers and Snitch. Both Keepers raced to the goalposts. Nuada and the Slytherin Seeker were both eyeing the snitch hungrily and watched it disappear from view. With the Quaffle in hand, Madam Wood threw it up into air and James was the one to catch it. Three fourths of the crowed cheered as the game began and James raced towards the goalposts with the Quaffle.  
  
Above the screaming crowd was Sierra Blue, a very pretty black girl who was doing the commentary with the magical purple Megaphone. "And their off, Potter with the Quaffle. Potter races down to the Slytherin goalposts, but...ouch that had to hurt, a Bludger was sent his way by the Slytherin beaters. Potter dropped the Quaffle but was caught by Aine Midge. Gryffindor still has the advantage and it looks as if...yes...SHE SCORED! 10-0 to Gryffindor," Sierra announced, earning a large shout from the Gryffindor supporters and a wave of boos from the 200 green clad Slytherins.  
  
James did a victory clap for Aine, but was pissed at himself for being hit by a Bludger so early in the game. Focusing his mind back in the task, James dodged another Bludger that came pelting his way and raced to the goalposts. Checking behind his shoulder, James noticed that Nuada hadn't yet seen the Snitch. Silently cursing, James went back to catching the Quaffle.  
  
"The Quaffle is back in position. Midge passes to Potter, Potter to the other Midge. GRYFINNDOR SCORES! 20-0 to Gryffindor," Sierra exclaimed.  
  
Lily, Anthy and Amberle screamed at the top of their lungs along with the other two thirds of the school. The Slytherin team was being their usual bumbling selves, valuing size over skill. Lily, who under any circumstances hated flying she did love to see the Quidditch games; but on that day she seemed to be screaming more enthusiastically than usual. Lily guessed it was because James who was flying and even Lily had to admit, the two had become much closer over past events. Lily's attention however was thrown back into the game when a title wave of Boo's was issued from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.  
  
"THAT WAS DELIBERATE! THOSE CHEATING, NASTY, SCUM-FACED...," Sierra cursed. The Slytherin captain apparently stole one of the bats from his Beaters and hit a Bludger square in the gut of Macmillan, the Gryffindor Keeper knocking him unconscious. Gryffindor was awarded a foul, while Madam Wood was shouting, "Do NOT attack the Keeper unless the Quaffle is within scoring range!"  
  
"Miss Blue that is enough! Get back to the game," the voice of Professor McGonagall screamed.  
  
"Ehh...Hehe...Yes Professor. After that apparent bit of cheating Gryffindor is awarded a foul. Potter approaches and...YES I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! GRYFFINDOR SCORES AGAIN! 30-0, To Gryffindor," Sierra shouted.  
  
James had to congratulate himself. Even though the Keeper seemed to be a complete moron and didn't acknowledge that James was aiming for the right hoop, James had once again earned another goal for Gryffindor. James dared a glance at Lily who was cheering and jumping up and down like a maniac. He loved how her face lit up whenever she was happy. It was like seeing the sun after months of winter. When Lily noticed he was staring at her, James flirtatiously winked at her, causing a blush to creep across her face. Just before game play was to resume James saw Dorcas staring at him with a smirk on her face. "James, get your mind off of Lily and back to the game. We don't want to lose our advantage do we?" she shouted. At the last second, James was able to resume his position. Dorcas was right, his mind had to stay focused on the task at hand, and this was no time for him to be thinking dirty thoughts about Lily.  
  
About another forty-five minutes into the game the score was 90-30 to Gryffindor. The three times Slytherin had scored Sierra almost lost her commentary privilege for swearing so badly in the megaphone that Professor McGonagall tried to tug it away from her. But the Slytherins were beginning to become desperate. Their Seeker had feinted three times in hopes of putting the Gryffindor Seeker out of commission. Of course the only thing that had happened was the Slytherin Seeker misjudging the distance from the ground and twice he hit it with a hard thud, breaking his nose which was currently pouring out blood. James shot a glance at Nuada who was still circling the sky above for the Snitch. If that pace kept up, the game would be going on into the night.  
  
Back in the stands Lily's checks were flushed a light pink. She could have sworn that James had winked at her. It was like they were boyfriend and girlfriend! It was true that Lily had agreed to go out with him on one date, but that was because of what outside the library. For once, she was grateful for James' constant curiosity and skillfulness with a wand. Of course if the two hadn't come from utterly despising each other to friends because of their Head Duties, Lily would never ever have asked him out. He seemed to deflate his overgrown head quite a bit, and as it turned out he was a rather decent human being, which surprised Lily because she had thought him the scum of the Earth, not fit to wipe mud from the boots of the Malfoy family. Lily smiled, the thought made her heart become really soft and warm, a feeling that, although she would never admit it openly, she loved. Again Lily's attention was on the game again because the crowd had gasped and she saw the two Seekers diving for the Snitch at full speed.  
  
The game was on a momentary hold, because all the players were frozen with adrenaline. The Slytherin players prayed that Nuada was feinting, but when he pulled out of a spectacular dive with a tiny golden ball clutched in his hands, nothing but sulky looks were on their faces. "150 POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR, THEY WIN! 140-30, TO GRYFFINDOR!" Sierra exclaimed so loud that everyone had to cover their ears.  
  
But that was nothing compared to the student's reaction. Three of the four houses were scream and jumping up and down excitedly. The Slytherins were silent in defeat. The Gryffindor team did a victory lap around the stadium and when James passed Lily he winked at her again. This time instead of blushing Lily found herself laughing and giggling, which caused Anthy and Amberle to look at her curiously.  
  
"Hey Lily, Potter didn't give you something foreign for pumpkin juice did he? You and he seem to be getting along, and his life, nor the cutting off of his penis, has been threatened once all year," Anthy said.  
  
"His life or the cutting off of his penis?" Amberle said.  
  
"Ughh... long story. You haven't been at Hogwarts long enough to know the rivalry that usual goes on between those two," Anthy said, causing both Amberle and Lily to laugh.  
  
"Well I haven't threatened him to your knowledge that is," Lily said with a smirk.  
  
VIV (two weeks later)  
  
Two weeks after the Quidditch game, the excitement soon turned to the up coming Hogsmead trip. Girls were chatting animatedly about how they needed to stock up on their beauty supplies, or they needed to buy a gift for their boyfriend. Most of the boys were saying how they needed more Dungbombs, or how they needed to update their Wizarding Card collection. Amberle and Dorcas who both collected Wizard Cards were comparing collections and trading cards very lively in their dormitory one night. Lily and Anthy were busy playing a game of Chess, to which Lily was loosing very badly. Lily noticed that Anthy had been rubbing her arm like something was burning, so Lily asked, "Anthy, has something happened to your arm?".  
  
"It's nothing. The other day during charms I said the incantation wrong, and ended up burning my arm pretty bad," Anthy said.  
  
"Why haven't you had the nurse see it?" Lily asked.  
  
"I have. She did all she could and sent me on my way, but it still hurts," Anthy managed to say, but not quite meeting Lily's eyes.  
  
Satisfied with the answer she got, Lily was in the process of taking one of Anthy's knights. But once the Knight was destroyed, Anthy resorted with taking Lily's Queen.  
  
"Damn, do you always have to be so...merciless," Lily asked with her lip sticking out.  
  
"The world of competition is always hard," Anthy smirked.  
  
As Anthy checked her King, Lily began to worry about her date with James. It was in three days, and she was getting quite nervous. What was she going to do an entire day with James Potter?  
  
XVIVX (end chapter) YOU JUST HAVE TO FIND OUT NEXT CHAPTER! MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I love doing that. Thank you all for all of your reviews, they mean sooooooooooo much. I got this chapter out in only two days because even though I love writing cliffies, when I read them I hate waiting to find out and I didn't want to keep you all hanging in suspense. (Dodges tomatoes). I have never written a Quidditch game before, and I am quite happy with the way it came out. For all of you, who think that I am having a go at everyone who lives in America through Amberle, don't think that. I have talked to a bunch of British people, and they all have the same views on Americans. I live in America and damn proud of it too.  
  
I am still debating about whether or not to change the rating. I could use your advice. In around five/six chapters I feel that the rating will go up above PG-13, but not quite at R. it includes a make-out scene which goes a lot further than the one in the last chapter, more and more violence, and Peter bashing. I am still stuck on what to do. Advice would be very much appreciated.  
  
I must go, I ate too much during dinner and I am feeling the after-effects. All flames will be laughed at and deleted.  
  
Sayonara Narya of the fire 


	9. On a Snowy day

The insane one has returned for Chapter 9. Thank you, for all of you kick- ass reviews. They make me so happy. Still debating about the whole rating issue. This would be a whole lot easier if I live in China, because Harry Potter is banned in China, lol. I know that it is a little early to be thinking about my 2005 calendar, but I just bought a Harry Potter one with artwork by the artist who doses the American Covers and chapter illustrations. It is pretty neat; the coolest picture is of the Hungarian Horntail chasing Harry around from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Speaking of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it comes out November 18, 2005. Has anyone seen any pictures of the actors who are playing Cedric Diggory and Victor Krum? I can't wait to see Viktor Krum and Rita Skeeter if they include her in the movie. No news on who is going to play Voldemort because the guy who was originally supposed to play it hasn't yet committed to the role.  
  
Is there anyone else who thinks Viktor Krum and Hermione make a cute couple? I mean it is true that they are completely different, but that is why I like them together. My feelings towards the Ron and Hermione couple have gotten better, and I have even found myself reading some R/H fan fiction because it is rather obvious that the pair of them is going to get together. But I still like Viktor/Hermione and Draco/Hermione, and I still HATE with the fiery passion of my soul the Harry/Hermione pairing. I wonder who Harry is going to pair up with, Ginny or Luna. I would prefer Ginny because she has fancied him for a long time, and she has a much darker relationship to Voldemort after being possessed by Riddle. But Luna is starting to grow on me. Okay, enough of my ramblings, I just felt like saying that.  
  
Note: I made another mistake regarding Tonks that one of the readers pointed out. I originally said she was sorted into Gryffindor and then I changed it to Ravenclaw. Sorry (hits self over head). I originally meant for her to be in Ravenclaw. Sorry about that. Thanks to the person who pointed it out.  
  
Disclaimer: J.K Rowling is the owner of all things Harry Potter. All of you lawyers can go screw a tree (for anyone wondering where I got that phrase, I heard it off of the John-Boy and Billy Show on the radio. I don't own that either. They have the best talk show, especially when they do Dumb Crook News, Mad Max and the Crocodile Stalker . All John-Boy and Billy fans UNITE. It is also fucking hilarious when they make fun of X-mass songs, for example; you're a Ho Ho Ho, Rudolph the Redneck Reindeer, and my personally favorite, Christmas Balls.). Last and I forgot to mention this before; the band I make reference to, Orion is a real band. It is not mine either.  
  
Enjoy... (If not, go listen to the John-Boy and Billy show and laugh your bloody ass off).  
  
XVIVX  
  
On the morning of the Hogsmead visit, Lily woke up exceptionally early. She supposed it was out of sheer nervousness for the task at hand, spending and entire day with James Potter. However Lily couldn't deny that she had been dreading it with her mind, body and soul; at times she found herself day dreaming, mainly during History of Magic, about different things she could do with James while at Hogsmead. When Lily finally opened her eyes she saw that Peeves was floating above her with a bright red water balloon in hand. Not wanting to get a face full of water, Lily made a deal that if Peeves wouldn't drop the balloon on her face, she would bewitch the water to be died acid green and stick to the face of whomever the balloon was dropped on. After deliberating for less than a second, Peeves saluted Lily pulled out her wand and muttered the spell that was needed. Peeves took off with the balloon and floated out of the Girl's Dormitory and into the Boy's. Lily couldn't help but smirk, well it looked like one of the Marauders would be getting a wet wake up call. After praying that Peeves didn't spill the beans that it was her who enchanted the balloon, Lily slipped out of bed and into the showers.  
  
After a good hour in the showers, and her hair smelling like cherries, Lily left the showers and got dressed. Because it was a Saturday and she wasn't required to wear her uniform, Lily decided on some plain old muggle clothes. She chose a pair of hip-hugger jeans, a long-sleeved, cotton lavender shirt and a black denim jacket. On the outside of her shirt was her necklace that her father had given her, which she rarely showed to the public. But because she would be going out on a date, Lily thought it would be best to look a bit nicer than she would normally have looked. After using a spell to dry her hair, Lily tied it in a lose bun behind her neck, letting a few stray locks of her auburn hair curl around her face. After one last look in the mirror Lily decided that she looked good enough, and for good taste, Lily rubbed some almond extract oil on her hands(I know this doesn't sound like it smells good, but TRUST ME, almond extract is the best smelling thing in the world, next to vanilla). Once she was satisfied with the way she looked, and smelled, and not bothering to put on any make- up, Lily left the Gryffindor Tower to go have breakfast.  
  
The Great Hall seemed much emptier that usual without the crowds of students flocking to eat breakfast as fast as they could so they could get to their next lesson. All of the House Tables were half empty or less. Taking a seat at the far end of the Gryffindor table, Lily helped herself to some eggs and a blueberry muffin. Breakfast was never her meal of fancy, and she never ate much, but that day her stomach seemed tighter than usual, like she had a huge knot her stomach. Brushing the feeling aside, Lily drove herself to eat. While chewing on her last bit of eggs, an Eagle Owl soared over to Lily and stuck out its leg where a letter was tied. Swallowing her last bites, Lily un-fastened the letter, gave the Owl, which she recognized as Orpheus, a bit of bacon before sending it back to the Owlry. Why would James want to send her a letter on the day they were going to have their date? She opened the egg colored parchment and written in purple ink was:  
  
Dear Lily,  
Meet me by the Shrieking Shack around noon. Get ready to have a great day, this will make you regret all those times you turned me down in the past.  
  
See you there, James (or Jamesie-poo, whichever you like).  
  
Lily crumpled the letter and stuffed it in her pocket. Checking her watch; it was only 10:15. What was she supposed to do for another hour and forty- five minutes? It sure would have helped if he had bothered to tell her that yesterday, so that she could have gotten a few more hours of sleep. Scowling she picked up a piece of toast and began spreading grape jam all over it. "Hey Lily, why are you here? I thought you were supposed to be on your date with that Potter guy," said the voice of Amberle. She had just walked into the Great Hall. Because Amberle's family lived in Hogsmead, she was required to visit them whenever the school would allow it.  
  
"'lo Amberle," Lily said. "James just sent me an Owl saying to meet him at the Shrieking Shake around noon. I have another two hours to kill before I have to go. Where are Dorcas and Anthy?" she questioned.  
  
"They left early. I accidentally let it slip to Amberle that I could give her special discounts at my family's store, so I think she went there. And Anthy mentioned something about a Graduation Dance, and how she wanted to get ready. What the hell is the graduation dance," Amberle said.  
  
"Every year the students who will be graduating are all invited to a Ball. It is the Head Boy and Head Girl's job to arrange it, find the music, food, and everything else. But I don't think I will go," Lily answered.  
  
"So it is kind of like what we call a prom in America," Amberle asked.  
  
"Yeah, something like that. I have the food all taken care of and James said that he found a potential band, Orion," the red headed witch said.  
  
"Orion, really? I know them, I could ask them," exclaimed Amberle.  
  
"You know Orion. That would be great if you could ask them, I doubt that James has gotten a hold of them and I too have had trouble contacting them. It would be a real life-saver if you could ask them," Lily begged.  
  
"Hey, no biggie. My buddy will be glad to do it. So, why aren't you going to this Graduation Ball," Amberle inquired.  
  
"It's a formal dance. I can't afford the right kind of dress robes, and you need a partner. Not to mention formal dances just aren't my thing," Lily answered as she took a bite out of her toast. Amberle had sat down beside her and was in the process of piling up bacon, eggs, oatmeal and some muffins onto her plate. She too was dressed in muggle clothes, but hers were a lot more simple; a pair of faded jeans, a black sweatshirt, and her jade dragon pendant. Draped around her shoulders was her red, white and blue cloak.  
  
"Well, seeing as how you don't have anything to do for two hours want to get a head start with the Hogsmead visit? I may live there, but I haven't had time to properly explore the village. However oddly enough, I have explored the Forbidden Forest and I know it from tree to tree. It isn't considered 'Forbidden' at Hogsmead, just if you go into the forest you won't make it out in once piece. Then again, that is why at my American school, magical creature handling and forest survival for the average wizard or witch were required courses. The forest isn't that bad as long as you don't explore during the Full Moon," Amberle said simply. The food on her plate was already gone, and she was waiting for Lily to finish.  
  
Lily was astonished! How could someone speak of the Forbidden Forest like that? She wondered if Dumbledore knew about that. Americans, Lily thought to herself. But at least Amberle was pretty cool all around, despite her blunt honesty and lack of fear. As it turned out, Amberle already had a job waiting for her once she graduated at the Ministry of Magic. She was to head up the Department of Magical Creature Regulation and Control. But a flaw in that was that she had the same dispassion Hagrid had when it came to fearsome beasts. Amberle loved dragons and often fantasized about having one for a pet (don't worry, she doesn't get a dragon egg), or how the Kelpie was simply a misunderstood creature who is only trying to make its way in the world.  
  
Once they walked outside, Lily was grateful that she had brought her cloak. The December air was very chilly and bitter. The cold nipped at her face and nose, causing them to turn bright red. Lily followed Amberle down to the village, and the two of them headed directly to her family's shop. There, Lily meet Amberle's parents, Mark and Suzette and her brother, Chad, who had already graduated and was coming for a visit. Amberle introduced Lily to them, and her family made mention of a "certain customer who is a bit too picky about our Beater supplies. I believe her name is Dorcas and she mentioned something about having a friend named Lily". Then a man who looked like he was in his early twenties stepped into the shop. He had brown, lanky hair that covered his long and bony face and maple eyes. Amberle introduced him as the leader of the band Orion. He wasn't the friendliest looking person Lily had ever met, and decided to let Amberle do all the talking. After fifteen minutes of convincing the leader of the band, called Ferio, he agreed to play at the Graduation Ball. After saying good-bye to Amberle's family and Ferio, Lily left the shop. Amberle's parents had insisted that their daughter stay so Lily left alone. When Lily walked out the store, Ferio gave a flirtatious wink, but was answered by Amberle who said, "Sorry bub, she's taken".  
  
Lily checked her watch again, and it read 12:07. She had been at Amberle's for almost two hours! Lily made a quick dash up to the Shrieking Shack. When she got there, tired and out of breath, Lily saw that James was already waiting for her. He wore his best boyish grin that he could muster. It was enough to warm any girl's heart in a split second. In that moment he seemed almost innocent. Lily then laughed at herself, James innocent? That was a laugh; Lily doubted that he had ever been innocent in his life.  
  
"You're late Lils," James said.  
  
"Conceder it pay back for when you turned my hair electric blue in our first year," Lily said with a smirk.  
  
"I told you, I was aiming for Snivellus. You just happened to walk by at that moment," James said.  
  
"Yeah, and I bet the time when you pelted me with pink ink pellets in third year was an accident too," Lily smiled.  
  
"No you are right, that one was on purpose. Speaking of ink pellets were you the one who put Peeves up to dropping a balloon full of banana yellow ink on Sirius' head, and now he has big yellow blotches all over his face?" asked James.  
  
Lily was too busy laughing to respond. Sirius with yellow hair, the thought was too amusing. Lily made a mental note to thank Peeves.  
  
James laughed. Only the infamous Lily Evans would put Peeves up to pranking Sirius. All of the other girls in school, even some of the Slytherins, hero- worshipped Sirius too much to pull a joke on him. They would consider it a crime punishable by death if they ever found out that Lily was the culprit. Of course, Sirius being Sirius told Peeves to send his compliments and a warning to the person who did it.  
  
"So why did you want to meet me by the Shrieking Shack?" questioned the fiery red-head.  
  
"Too lazy to walk all the way back up to the school. So I figured that you would come to me," James said.  
  
"Don't get used it," Lily said.  
  
The two walked off into the main village of Hogsmead. There they ran into Remus who was emerging from the Post Office. The pair waved hi to Remus and continued on their way. James seemed to be leading the way because Lily didn't know where they were going. Eventually they reached The Three Broomsticks. Inside most of the costumers were Hogwarts students and all of the girls seemed to gasp when James walked in with Lily. Along with their rather long and drawn out gasp, they all threw Lily the looks of the utmost loathing and jealousy. All of the boys seemed shocked that James managed to land the famous man hater Lily Evans. Several of them stopped James when he ordered some Butterbeer and congratulated James on his catch. James on the other hand felt somewhat offended because all of the other guys acted like James just wanted to get Lily into bed. It was true that she was the most beautiful witch he had ever seen, but he cared about her because of her fiery personality and the spark in her eyes that refused to leave. The more Lily resisted James, and smacked him across the face the more James wanted her to accept him. Now that they officially were dating James learned much more about Lily Evans. She had a caring side that almost no one knew about, and a side of her that loved jokes almost as much as James and Sirius did. She no longer seemed the ice cold bitch she was often portrayed as.  
  
When James sat down, the pair went on to talk about their families. James told Lily of his parents, Dominic and Evelyn Potter. His father was an Auror and he had little contact with him because of his constant revolts against Voldemort. The chances of an Owl being intercepted were very great and he very rarely sent letters unless it was sent via Dumbledore. His mother, Evelyn, was a charming woman who worked in the Department of Magical Games in the ministry and was often able to get James tickets to Quidditch Games and twice she managed to get tickets in the Top Box to the World Cup. She was the one family member that understood James' need to prank people and often encouraged him and gave him ideas. His family lived in the Potter Mansion in English Country side about two hours outside of London. James had once had an Uncle Billy and a cousin Liv who lived in France, but they were both killed by Death Eaters two years ago. All of their money and estate went to Dominic and Evelyn, and in turn to James. Lily listened intently and her heart pounded with jealousy with James having grown up all around witches and wizards, and not being hated by his sister (if he had one). He never had to return to a six week hell during summer vacation, and was always accepted for who he was. But it soon occurred that Lily's heart began to beat with caring and admiration too. James went on to tell her of the hellhole Sirius has to go back to every summer and why he moved in with James over the summer.  
  
Soon it was Lily's turn to talk. She wasted no time in thoroughly confusing James with growing up muggle born. She often had to stop and explain the way things muggles acted, but James caught on pretty quickly. Lily told James of her father, John Evans and mother, Violet Evans. She spoke of her father as a tall man with lots of muscle and a kind smile that made everyone love him Lily was closest to her father out of everyone of the family, and told James of the necklace her father had given to her as she pointed to the tear drop emerald that hung around her neck. Violet Evans was a bit of an air head but she has a charming disposition that made everyone love her. Lily lowered her face and made a very brief mention that she had a sister and her name was Petunia, and that she was engaged to a man named Vernon Dursley. Lily didn't have as much to say about her family as James did because they were only plain muggles, and she didn't want to bring up the subject that was Petunia. James looked extremely entertained by the way that muggles lived.  
  
Around an hour passed as they talked intently to each other. Somehow, unconsciously, it seemed that James had grabbed a hold of Lily's hand and the two just sat there holding hands and talking about the way that the other lived. It wasn't until Lily had finished her side that she noticed James clutching her hand. It felt kind of nice Lily had to admit, and she didn't pull it away. Once Lily and James had nothing more to talk about they left the little pub and just decided to walk around Hogsmead.  
  
Fifteen minutes later it began to snow. Lily looked up and stuck out her tongue in hopes of catching a few of the chilly flakes. Soon the snow was falling heavily and many of the students began to race back up to the castle for cover. Once again, Lily felt glad that she had taken her cloak with her. Unlike most of the other students who were flocking up to the castle, Lily and James took their time and enjoyed the snow. Winter was Lily's favorite season. Winter was the time of love in her mind because sitting by a warm fire while it snowed around you with the person you loved was Lily's idea of a perfect date. The pair was soon covered in tiny white snow flakes and James' hair was speckled jet black and pure white. It looked like someone had dropped white paint all over his head.  
  
When the two had finally reached the lake they stopped to look at the scenery. Hogsmead looked just like a Christmas card whenever it snowed. All of the roof tops were littered with snow and smoke blew out the chimneys. The lake was frozen solid and the dark silhouette of the Giant Squid could be seen from the surface. The glossy surface of the lake gave Lily an idea.  
  
"Hey James, have you ever been ice skating before?" she inquired in the most innocent voice she could muster.  
  
"No, why?" James said. As he turned around he found that Lily was no longer beside him and he felt a tremendous push from behind him. James fell head first into the solid ice lake. Of course the ice was so thick that it easily supported his weight. James looked up and saw Lily hold her stomach from laughing. "Why you little..." James threatened as he went to stand up, but lost his balance and fell again on the ice. Twice more James tried to get up, but he lost his balance just as quickly as he gained it. Each time he saw Lily smirking, and trying her best not to laugh. That little minx!  
  
Lily too stepped onto the ice, but she seemed to glide on it. It was clear to anyone that she was mocking him. James glared at her furiously and attempted to stand up. He didn't dare move for he would lose his balance. It was clear that she had been planning this for quite a while. "Lily, how do you walk on this?"  
  
Lily passed him again, "its magic".  
  
"Magic my ass, tell me how," James said.  
  
"You just put one foot in front of the other and you end up gliding across the ice," Lily answered like it was the easiest question in the world.  
  
Slowly James got up and began making small, very small, glides across the ice. Just as Lily was about to circle him again, he grabbed her arm and the pair both went tumbling down onto the ice. Glad for the thick blanket of snow that was now falling from the sky, which would mean that they would be harder to see, Lily fell on her back while James fell on top of her, and he managed to catch himself with his arms, preventing him from smacking his chin against the ice. Lily blushed as she realized the position she was in. James was literally a fraction of an inch away form her face, so close that she could feel his warm breath in the cold air. The pair just stared each other face to face.  
  
He really is handsome, Lily thought. He is perfect.  
  
She is perfect, James thought. My soul mate right here under me.  
  
It was then when Lily suddenly reached out and kissed James. Her hands softly gripped his checks and Lily kissed him with all the force she could muster without her tongue entering his mouth.  
  
It took a second for James to full grasp what just happened but he didn't deny it. This was the girl he cared about kissing him with all of her emotion. For a fleeting second he seemed to feel all of the emotion she felt for him. James seemed somewhat overwhelmed by what he felt. She really did care about him, despite the face she gave. Of course, James more than willingly responded to her kiss and he kissed her back with the same intensity. Soon their tongues began swirling inside the other's mouth. But before things got out of hand, Lily realized what she had just done and drew away.  
  
She was a red as an apple and a look of shock at her own boldness was across her face. "I...I'm so sorry," she stumbled out.  
  
James didn't say anything but kiss her warm check. He understood that she was afraid of where things may go, and was still in shock with her own daring. He smiled warmly and got up. Lily understood that it was his way of saying, 'I feel the same way' and she took his hand. Carefully the two slid back to the solid ground and made their way back up to the castle for dinner.  
  
VIV  
  
Several days later, Lily was packing her belongings to return to her home for Christmas. Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle were all going home so Lily saw no reason to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. Since her date with James, Lily had avoided him. She suspected that James was overwhelmed by what she had done, and thought that she should stay away from him for a while. But at least she was relieved that James did not pull away, and, at least it seemed, that he felt some of the same emotions for her. Because of that day, Lily had begun to come to terms with how she felt regarding James Potter. She had to admit that she cared deeply about him, and as more than a friend. Of course none of her friends knew of the kiss, but she suspected that they had heard about it. Lily would be shocked if news of the kiss hadn't spread like wild fire throughout Hogwarts.  
  
Lily began the job of stuffing her cat into its cage when Dorcas burst through the door. "Hey Lily. Ready to go back for Christmas?" she said happily.  
  
"Hell yeah I am ready to go back. The prospect of Petunia being away with her fiancé will make this a very merry Christmas. I got a letter from Mum this morning," Lily explained, while fighting with Nenya who did not want to go into his cage. And it looked as if he was winning the fight.  
  
"That's great. Two weeks without that Harpy of a sister you were cursed with," Dorcas mused.  
  
"Well Petunia left home around a year ago, but she spends so much time there it looks as if she hasn't moved at all. Besides, I have met her fiancé and he is not exactly tall, dark and handsome. As a matter of fact he is quite the opposite," Lily said as she managed to snap the lock shut on Nenya's cage, with her fat cat meowing annoyingly.  
  
"So he is short, light and ugly?" Dorcas joked.  
  
"All of the above except light. He is only a few inches taller than me, and he looks like a giant ape in a wig with a bad mustache. However he and Petunia have the same out look on magic, so I guess the two were meant for each other," Lily said.  
  
Dorcas cringed and then laughed. The two eventually caught up with Anthy who was already dragging her trunk out the door. Amberle only had to walk to Hogsmead so she was nowhere to be found. The three girls laughed and talked about their Christmas plans all the way until they reached Platform 9 ¾.  
  
When the train unloaded, students poured out and quickly made their way back to muggle London where their parents were waiting. Lily said goodbye to Dorcas and Anthy when she caught site of her parents, Violet and John. She greeted her parents by giving them both bear hugs. Her parents looked good as usual, and the picture was made even better with the absence of Petunia and Vernon. As Lily's parents were putting her trunk into their car, someone screeched out "OI LILY!" Lily turned around to see James across the parking lot with his parents. Mr. Potter had thin graying hair but a warm smile and apparently was the one who gave James his hazel eyes. Mrs. Potter had jet black hair and ice blue eyes, and she bore the same mischievous smile her son always wore.  
  
Lily smiled and waved goodbye to James. As he disappeared from view, Lily's father winked at her causing Lily to blush. "You never told me that you have a boy friend. Do we need to have 'the talk'" Mr. Evans joked.  
  
"He isn't my boy friend. He is just my friend and the Head Boy," Lily said stubbornly. She didn't exactly want to admit to the world how she felt about James.  
  
During the car ride home Lily was silent but her mind was racing like a horse. She smiled to herself as she began to think about her first kiss with James Potter. True she had had two different boy friends but she never kissed them. It was like fate was saving her first kiss for that moment with James Potter.  
  
XVIX  
  
END CHAPTER. I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry this took so long. For a couple of days I have been having writer's block and I got my edge back tonight and I finished the chapter. I hope it was worth it. MAJOR Lily and James action. I loved writing this, creating the tensions between Lily and James. That is always fun.  
  
For all of you who are eagerly awaiting Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince I would suggest that you read the Shannara books by Terry Brooks. J.K Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien and Terry Brooks are the best fantasy writers of the era. Most people have already read Tolkien but not a lot of folks have read Terry Brooks. READ HIS BOOKS! I would suggest reading The Sword of Shannara first, and within the first two or three chapters you will be ADDICTED. I first read them while waiting for The Order of the Pheonix to come out and I became addicted to them, so far I have read the Shannara series, half of the Heritage of Shannara and am in the second book of The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara series. READ THEM! They are nice and long, and full of action. They are perfect for reading while you are waiting for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. My personally favorite is The Wishsong of Shannara and The Voyage of Jerle Shannara: Isle Witch. The summaries on the back of the books are really corny, but the books are magnificent. Terry Brooks rocks. His best characters are Big Red, Little Red, and Brin and Jair Omshford.  
  
I just recently found out that my favorite NON-fantasy book is being made into a movie, Memoirs of a Geisha by Author Golden. I am sooooooooooo excited. That book was awesome. It is coming out next year. Rob Marshall (Chicago) is directing it and Stephen Spielberg is going to be one of the producers. So far Rika Okamota is playing Sayuri and Maggie Cheung is going to play Mameha. I can't wait. That movie is going to be sooooooooooo good.  
  
You know the drill, the more reviews the more I write. All flames will be laughed at and deleted. 


	10. Home For Christmas

Chapter 10. The insane has returned to torture you with chapter 10. MUAHAHAH! For all of you who were eagerly awaiting some Lily and James action that wasn't in a dream I hope you liked the last chapter . Took me long enough though. Lol. Oh well, this is going to be a longer story and so spreading things long is a good thing. But don't worry I won't take another ten chapters for them to admit they love each other.  
  
I finally got a Live Journal account (dose the Happy Frodo Chicken Dance). The link is posted in my profile under the homepage. But I still can't get my quiz result pictures to post in it, Garr.... I suppose it is because I have a free account and I am too cheap to get a paid one. Now all I need is a scanner and Open Canvas so I can get a deviant art account. I bet you all didn't know that I love to draw and I am pretty good at it, but sadly I don't have a scanner. (  
  
Still debating over the whole rating issue. But I am pretty sure that I am going to up the rating to R, but the real rating is around PG-15/16. I am most likely going to up the rating after this chapter or the next one, depends on how they turn out.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All is property of Joanne Kathleen Rowling XD. All I own is Anthy, Amberle, Professor Lantis, and another original character that is just mentioned in this chapter but doesn't play any role at all. And the word anthy is Greek for flower, hence why I made her half Greek.  
  
For those of you who have seen the show Shoujo Kakumei Utena, you know that is where I got the name Anthy and if you have seen episode 38 and 39...well you can guess what is going to happen. Someone has already figured out a major clue, Holly-Evans! But I refuse to say what that clue is o.0 thehehehehheheeh. I love to torture you all.  
  
One last note: die peter die.....lol. That and I have been listening to one of the best songs ever written, Toki ni Ai waa... (Right now Love is...) by Masami Oku. That is the most romantic song ever written, even if it is Japanese. I think I will include it in my story, maybe around the ball. If you have heard that song, isn't it gorgeous? And lastly a store is mentioned in this chapter called The Purple Lizard and that really is a store. I don't own that either. Of course I doubt there is a store called The Purple Lizard in London, but where I live it is a very popular store that has all sorts of cool stuff. It looks like a Hippie shack, but in a good way.  
  
Enjoy chapter 10  
  
XVIVX  
  
Lily had been home for four days during her Christmas vacation and things couldn't be going any better. She had only one encounter with Petunia when she dropped by to say that she and her fiancé, Vernon would be spending Christmas in Ireland. And because Vernon was with her, Petunia didn't shout one insult about Lily being a witch. Lily supposed she was too embarrassed having such a 'freak' for a sister. The thought made her laugh. Wouldn't Petunia get a shock if she found out that in the Wizarding World she would be considered a freak. Over her vacation she had gotten an Owl from Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle. They were all doing well, but they all refused to tell Lily her Christmas present, which Lily had been begging them to give her a hint of what it was.  
  
Two days into her vacation John Evans teased Lily about her little encounter with James at Kings Cross Station. Lily had to repeatedly claim that James wasn't her boyfriend. It was then when Violet Evans entered the room and said 'James...wasn't James the one who turned your hair blue during your first year?'. Lily could have bowed down and thanked her mother for saying that. She just simply responded by 'yes James was the prat who did that to me. As it turns out he isn't a complete arse because we have to do Head Duties together. He and I are just FRIENDS' she said over and over. The thought brought a smile to Lily's face. If only her parents knew what really happened. But of course if Lily told them her father would freak out and most likely hunt James down with a Bazooka and her mother would lecture Lily about sex and love until Lily's head would burst. It would be for the best of everyone if she kept it a secret. Although Lily had no doubt that James told Sirius and Remus she doubted that word hadn't traveled around the school. The snow as falling so thick that everyone was paying more attention to getting up to the castle and not to her and James making out on the frozen lake. Lily put a hand up to her lips, well at least my first kiss was magical, she thought to herself. It was a Thursday afternoon and the next day was Christmas Eve.  
  
Every year Lily's family had a huge dinner on Christmas Eve and Lily and her father would set up a little barn made from Popsicle sticks and the scene of baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the Wise Men. It was a tradition that Lily treasured over all others in her family. Of course, she would help her mother prepare the delicious dinner for the evening. The previous year Lily spent at Hogwarts so she was looking forward to spending Christmas with her family and without Petunia.  
  
On that Thursday Lily had some extra money and she wanted to go shopping because she wouldn't have a chance to do so after that day. She woke up early that morning and got dressed in some normal muggle cloths; a pair of old faded jeans and a white turtle-neck jumper. Lily left her hair down for a change, and she wore tiny stud earrings, of course the diamond stud was nothing but cut glass, but Lily like how they looked. When Lily went down for breakfast she just had a bowl of Cheerios (a/n: do they have cheerios in Britain?), and some orange juice. It was so weird that she wasn't having her usual eggs, bacon, and toast and pumpkin juice. As it turned out, Mr. and Mrs. Evans were both still asleep so Lily left them a note on the table and left the house and headed off to muggle London. On the way out, she grabbed a leather coat because the forecast cloudy with a possibility of snow.  
  
During the summer of her sixth year, Lily and somehow managed to get a muggle drivers license, so she hopped into her family's Ford Anglia (a/n: well back then the Anglia wouldn't be old, it would be new) and she drove on down to London. The streets were packed with muggles looking for last minute Christmas presents and all of the stores had lines practically to the doors with customers waiting to be checked out. Lily parked in a large public parking lot, and she activated the car's security system. Across the street was a large bookstore. Lily ran across the busy street and entered the bookstore. It was called Borders: Books, Music and Café. It was one of her favorite book stores before she found out that she was a witch. That was one of the problems with the wizarding world; Lily thought to herself, they don't have any good fiction books. Muggle fiction books beat wizarding ones any day, she thought.  
  
When she entered the store it was a warm relief over the freezing temperatures outside. The bookstore was a nice warm temperature around eighty degrees versus the thirty degree weather outside. It looked as if the store was busier than it had seen in almost a year because seven cash registers were open and people were lining up from the back of the store. Lily went back to the historical romance section of the bookstore and she pulled out a random book called Memoirs of a Geisha, and began to read. She had been recommended that book by one of her friends, but Lily had never really gotten a good chance to read it. A few rows away was a sitting area in the store where some large squishy bean bags and chairs were so that the costumers could read. Before Lily had gotten her letter, she would spend hours sitting on one of the larger bean bags and read romance novels. Romance and drama novels had always been her favorite genre, but as she had gotten older Lily began to also enjoy mystery books as well. As a child, she would often read books about witches, wizards, dragons, unicorns and brave Knights, whishing they were real. Of course now that Lily was apart of the world that she belonged in, she those books to be someone humorous because of the muggle attempts to describe a universe that they knew so little of.  
  
Around two chapters into the book, Lily found herself immersed in the pages of the book. The book was about a little Japanese girl who grew up during the depression in a small fishing village in Japan. Then one day the little girl, Chiyo and her sister, Satsu were sold to the Nitta Okiya to become Geisha. But Chiyo's sister, Satsu was sold somewhere else and she was forced into Prostitution. Those kinds of novels had always appealed to Lily, whishing that her life had a little more drama in it because it would break the monotony. It wasn't as if life at Hogwarts wasn't boring, but Hogwarts would be ending in another six months and she needed to make a place for herself in the magical world. Of course she was planning to work in the ministry with the Aurors, but Lily wanted to work more with catching and stopping Death Eaters than every other ordinary Witch or Wizard criminal. Lily didn't want to work trivial cases that involved the robber of a little store in Diagon Alley or Hogsmead. She wanted a real name for herself by catching the people she despised most in the world.  
  
Eventually one of the store employees approached Lily and said, "Buy the book or put it back. You can't read the entire book without purchasing it," he barked. Not wanting to start a public brawl, Lily put the book back on the shelf. "A cup of hot cocoa would feel really good right about now," Lily said. She turned in the direction of the small café within the store. The woman at the counter was a small plump blonde woman that Lily knew really well. Her name was Rose, she was in her mid-forties and Lily had known her since she was six, when Lily first found out the wonders of the written world. "Hello Lily, dear," Rose greeted.  
  
"Hey Rose. Can I please have a cup of Hot Chocolate with extra whipped cream on top," Lily said. "So how are things here?"  
  
"Things are doing well. Good, but boring without you. So how is this boarding school you go to?" Rose said as she filled up one of the plastic cups.  
  
"School is okay. I am Head Girl this year, but at the end of the year we have to take our finals and they are a royal pain in the rump," Lily said as she pulled out some money out of her bag.  
  
"Well it is good too see you again Lily. Here is your drink," Rose said with a smile on her round face.  
  
"Thanks Rose," Lily said. She gave Rose the money for her drink and turned to leave.  
  
"Wait a second Lily. I just remembered! These young boys were looking for you earlier," Rose informed Lily.  
  
"What boys? I have been up north at school since the year started," Lily said. Who would be looking for her? She didn't have any friends in muggle London.  
  
"That is just it, they said that they knew you from school. One was tall with long black hair that fell across his face. The other was only a head taller than you, he had the most unruly black hair I have ever seen and he wore glasses," Rose smiled. "Boyfriends of yours?"  
  
"Unruly black hair and glasses. That would be James Potter and Sirius Black. I know that Sirius lives in London but he lives way up on the high class north end, and James lives in the country. Why would they be here?" Lily asked herself more than to Rose.  
  
"Well they said that they were your friends and they wanted to meet up with you. If I see them again shall I give them a message from you?" Rose offered  
  
"Just tell them that it would be the greatest benefit to their health if they stopped trying to find me," Lily said with a smile. At that, she took a sip of her Hot Chocolate and left the bookstore.  
  
Because Lily hadn't been out walking in a while and she needed the exercise, she decided to walk around London instead of driving. Besides, there were so many more stores she could see if she walked. Around the block was the pet store that she had gotten Nenya from, and just half a mile away from that was the clothing store Lily wanted to visit. Along the way she stopped at a calligraphy store and bought a peacock feather quill and some ink. She needed another quill for school because her last one had been jinxed by one of the Slytherins to spit ink back in her face. No doubt it was Snape or Bellatrix Black who was the culprit, but Lily didn't much care. While walking down the block, Lily kept a sharp eye out for James and Sirius. If they were in the vicinity she was bound to bump into them. The pair of them had most likely never been to muggle London in their life, even if Sirius grew up on the wizarding side of London. The pair was probley more lost than a reindeer in July. The thought put a small smile on her face, it served those two gits right, even if she had feelings for James. It seemed recently that he had deflated his head somewhat and was no longer the arrogant prick that he used to be. Either that or Lily was blind enough to not notice how great he really was, but Lily preferred the first.  
  
About forty minutes later and half a dozen shops later, Lily made it to the clothing store she had wanted to go to. It was had imported clothes, and so many different styles that Lily always went there for new ideas. They also sometimes had some cool shoes, or a cute necklace that Lily just had to buy. The store was called The Purple Lizard and the inside of the store often reminded Lily of a Hippie shack. It had incense of all smells burning and shawls of all colors and fabrics hanging from the ceiling. When Lily entered she was greeted by the store clerk, a tall lanky man that reminded Lily of a ferret because of his hairy face that was covered with stubble and his beady eyes. Once inside, Lily was immediately drawn to a soft red silk shirt that had just come in. It was a loose-fitting shirt that went down to a person's hips. Around the hem were beads and little charms dangling off the end, and had long sleeves. It looked like something a gypsy would wear. Lily took the shirt off the shelf and went immediately to try it on.  
  
The silk shirt fit her perfectly. It clung and hugged her body in the right places and yet was not tight enough to be considered uncomfortable. She looked like a goddess in it. Lily checked the prince tag. A wave of happiness swept through Lily because she had just enough money to buy the shirt with a little change left over. Lily slung it around her arm and went to investigated some of the other clothes The Purple Lizard offered. A black cashmere sweater with a cross embroidered on it also tempted Lily, but she mustered enough self control not to give in. Across the store, a glass desk that displayed charms for bracelets and necklaces caught Lily's eye. She went over to it, and found a small lily charm that she loved and so also purchased that.  
  
Satisfied and with her purse considerably lighter, Lily left The Purple Lizard and walked back to her car. She had spent around three hours in London and it was around noon. Her parents would be somewhat worried if she stayed out much longer so she drove back home. The driver was short but sweet, and somewhat humorous. At one point Lily had to stop at a red light and a bunch of teenage guys pulled up beside her in a red sports car. Despite the freezing weather the car had its hood down and they began cat- calling Lily. Of course, Lily who had James, was un-moved by their calls. She couldn't help but smile and snicker at the reaction those boys got out of it. But soon the names became a little too intense, and Lily temporary lost her temper and their car stereo exploded. The hole in the dashboard was smoking and Lily was glaring directly at it. The boys got so freaked out that when the light turned green they sped off, but little did they realize that a cop was right behind them. Several blocks later Lily saw the same car getting a rather sizable ticket from the cop car, and Lily waved at them as she passed, and she burst out into laughter. When Lily had gotten home she parked the car outside the driveway and once inside the fragrant smell of pasta with tomato sauce was high in the air. Pasta was one of Lily's most favorite foods, if she had known that would be what she would be eating for lunch; she wouldn't have even left for London. As she turned the corner into the kitchen Lily saw her mother draining the water into the sink and send a quick wave at her daughter. "Lily, hurry up and get washed for lunch," said Mrs. Evans.  
  
Lily ran up the stairs to her room and placed her bag of clothes on her bed, and then she headed to the bathroom to wash her hands. Once she was finished and Lily was downstairs, her father had also joined them. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were sitting at the table, clearly waiting for Lily to arrive. Lily sat down and her parents joined hands with their daughter and the family said grace. With that, Lily grabbed the bowl of Spaghetti and began piling it onto her plate in giant gobs. After she passed the Spaghetti down to her father she took the sauce and poured a small amount onto her plate. Although she loved Spaghetti, too much sauce would over power the pasta, and Lily always preferred white sauce to red sauce. In the middle of the table was a large pitcher of ice tea and Lily poured herself a glass. Lily sipped the tea and was glad to find that it wasn't too sweet. She thanked her parents for the mean and began chowing down into her plate, yet still keeping proper etiquette in tack.  
  
Ten minutes into lunch a knock on the door was heard. Lily lifted her head up from her food and gazed at the door. "Lily would you get that?" her father said.  
  
"Sure thing. It's most likely Petunia asking for some of the leftovers for Vernon," Lily said.  
  
"Lily Evans! You know better than to say such things," Mrs. Evans warned her daughter.  
  
"Sorry Mum, bad joke," Lily quickly apologized and walked over to he door. Why can't Petunia just go out for lunch, it isn't as she can't afford it, Lily thought to herself. Seeing Petunia wasn't exactly on her agenda for her Christmas Vacation, and that automatically put Lily in a rather foul mood. She didn't want to deal with her sister's constant insults about Lily being a freak. When Lily turned the doorknob to open the door she stood amazed at who was outside. Her draw dropped and her eyes became as round as saucers.  
  
It was James! He looked like an ordinary, everyday muggle except for the dark brown wand sticking out of his jeans. As always, his hair was rumpled up to make sure it didn't get too tidy, and his hazel eyes flashed with his boyish attitude. "James!" Lily exclaimed.  
  
"Howdy Lils. Things got really boring up at my place, so I thought I would drop by," James said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. It was clear that he had appariated because behind him there was no other mode of transportation that could have gotten him here. "Something smells good, you having lunch?"  
  
"Lily dear, who is at the door," Mrs. Evans shouted from the kitchen.  
  
"Just some friend from school, Mum, "Lily hollered back.  
  
"' Just some friend from school', I take offence to that Lils," James muttered with a look of false insult.  
  
"Well don't leave them standing outside in the cold, bring them in," Mrs. Evans said.  
  
"Come on in James, "Lily said. There had to be some other reason for James coming over to her house during Christmas that had nothing to do with being bored.  
  
As James entered the kitchen he was greeted with a hug from Mrs. Evans and a pat on the back from Mr. Evans. James was invited to eat with them, an offer which he would be more than happy to accept. Lily followed up behind James and took her seat next to him.  
  
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Evans. I am James Potter, a friend of Lily's from school," James said as he introduced himself. Lily saw that he was doing his best to sound and act respectful, and he almost seemed like a gentleman in her eyes. But of course anyone who knew the James Potter behind the nice British accent knew that he was putting on an act. And a very good act it was. Lily smile at the thought.  
  
"So we finally get to meet the infamous James Potter, fellow Head Boy to our little Head Girl," Mrs. Evans said.  
  
"Yes ma'am, that would be me," James responded.  
  
"If that is true than you would be one the one who changed our daughter's hair blue during her first year," Mr. Evans brought up with an amused look on his face.  
  
"Yes, in my younger and more naïve days I childishly loved to play jokes on people. But as for turning her hair blue, that was Sirius' fault. He was aiming for someone else and Lily happened to get in the way," James said and said it so convincingly that it sounded almost true.  
  
"Sirius my arse! You know that was you who did that, and not Sirius. No, he was the one who tried to push me in the lake when I saw the Giant Squid the first time," Lily said throwing a piece of bread in James' face, of which he caught.  
  
James laughed. "I'm sure that Padfoot would feel deeply insulted if you forgot about that. He just assumed that you knew how to swim at the time," James joked.  
  
"Well I will say that you were successfully the first person to get detention before the first day of classes," Lily said.  
  
"And you need to have more fun. You had succeeded in being the only person in our year that hasn't gotten a detention until a couple of weeks ago," James teased taking a bite of the bread.  
  
"Ehh...shut up!" Lily said as she turned bright red.  
  
For another hour James ate lunch with the Evans family and most of the time he and Lily bickered playfully back and forth. Violet and John Evans didn't seem to mind that he had played so many tricks on their daughter. Actually the seemed quite amused. Muggles may be weird but at least parents are cool, James thought. If Lily and he had talked about the same thing in front of James' family, James would be forced to endure his father and mother's lectures on 'being a presentable gentlemen to the opposite sex'. James claimed that he and Lily needed to talk about some things for the up coming Graduation Ball, so the pair went upstairs but talking about the Ball wasn't on the agenda.  
  
Sure James and Lily talked but it was about normal stuff, and when Lily asked again why he had come James responded with "I wanted to see my Lily- flower," in a flirtatious voice.  
  
VIV (several hours later)  
  
It was around dark and as it turned out James didn't Appariate. His mother had a friend who was a witch that lived a couple of blocks down and they went to her house via Floo Powder and James walked the rest of the way to Lily's house. Around four in the afternoon it had begun to snow again, only this time it was snowing so hard that the road couldn't be seen. As James kissed Lily on the check goodbye, while Mr. and Mrs. Evans weren't looking of course, he turned the doorknob but Violet Evans stopped him. She claimed that James couldn't go outside in such hideous weather, and that he should stay at Lily's house for the evening. James faked an argument that he was needed back home, which wasn't exactly true, but Mrs. Evans won and James was to be sleeping on the couch until the blizzard blew over.  
  
Lily threw a glance at James which made it known to James that Lily knew that he had planned it all along. James winked back causing Lily to blush slightly. That evening John Evans managed to get a fire burning in the fireplace, which was a good thing because the power went out less then five minutes after the fire began crackling. That night, because they couldn't cook using the stove or oven, Lily, James and Lily's parents settled for sandwiches. It was around nine when Lily's parents announced that they would be going to bed, leaving Lily and James alone by the fire place. Lily blushed when she realized that it was just how she imagined a romantic winter evening, snow howling outside while sitting in front of a warm fire with the person you cared about most. Lily dared a glance at James. His face was illuminated orange because of the firelight and the orange in his hazel eyes shown out as bright as ever. He looked like an angel in Lily's eyes. It was true that most angels were associated with being female, but there was no word for a male angel so Lily just settled on the thought that he looked like an angel.  
  
James just stared into the glowing light. It was like a scene out of those romance novels his mother loved to read. James had to smile at the hand that fate had given him. Here he was, sitting inside the dark with a fire glowing and crackling and spitting out embers, with the girl he cared most about. It was true that James had been a bit of a player in his fifth and part of his sixth year, but even when he was with the blondest of blondes in Hogwarts his thoughts were always on Lily and what it would feel like to be with her. Now he knew, it was like heaven. It was as if a force brought the storm just so they could be together. It wasn't James' nature to believe in fate, but during that moment he believed it. Lily was everything he ever wanted in a girl. She was smart, funny, bright, very intelligent, loved life and wanted to live it to its fullest. And to top it all off, she was drop dead gorgeous, with her auburn hair and dazzling green eyes. He loved Lily Evans, even if she didn't share his sentiment, James Potter loved Lily Evans.  
  
After a while Lily leaned up against James and began to slowly drift to sleep. She leaned against his shoulder and it felt like being touched by an angel. After another ten minutes when Lily was sure to be asleep, James whispered in her ear "I love you Lily". In time, James too fell asleep on the couch, even if Lily was leaning on his shoulder. In his dreams, Lily's beautiful face wove in and out. He dreamed of the two of them having a bright future together and a child. A child that was a perfect combination of both. James' messy jet black hair and Lily's beautiful eyes would grace his face. Of course he would be gifted on the Quidditch field but have his mother's quick mind and excel in all of his classes when it was his time to join Hogwarts. James dreamed of a small little cottage on the outskirts of a small village, where they would live happily together. James' dream was pure bliss and he never wanted to wake up from it. But then his dreams went to a dirty looking pub and a think woman who wore glasses that magnified her eyes to three times the size they actually were, and a cold voice said "...and neither can live while the other survives...". And again his dreams shifted to the small cottage he dreamed of earlier and a dark shadow was approaching. As the shadow came into full view James could tell it had blood red eyes with cat slits for pupils...a woman's scream and a baby's cry were heard....  
  
James awoke with a startle. That dream seemed to be so real. It was as if that would be his future. James looked on his shoulder to see if Lily was still there and as it turned out that Lily had woken up sometime and went up to her own room. James checked his watch and it read 3:18. With that James sprawled out on the couch and once again fell asleep.  
  
XIX (POV change) Up in Lily's room her eyes were as wide as balls. She heard James mutter "I love you Lily" into her ear. Apparently he had thought her to be asleep, when Lily was still partially awake. His voice rung in her ears like gongs. James loves me, Lily thought! But what is what I feel to him love also? For the remainder of the night Lily debated over that thought until she finally fell asleep around three in the morning.  
  
Did she love him? Lily definitely knew that she did have strong feelings, but were those feelings love? Did she love James Potter?  
  
XVIVX  
  
END CHAPTER. Well I think we all know the answer to Lily's question XD!!!!!!!!!  
  
It may be a while before I get a change to update again. This week I will have to go up to Ruidoso for a while, and then on Monday I start my marching band hell. Blahh.... I don't want to. If MIGHT just be able to get the next chapter out before I leave, but don't cross your fingers.  
  
Of course, if I get enough reviews I may have the next chapter out before I leave (snickers) but we won't get into THAT discussion will we. All flames will be read, laughed at and then deleted. That is if I don't get the urge to post them in my next chapter and make fun of them in front of everyone. Thehehehehheheeh. Good idea. I MUST get the lyrics in English to the song Toki ni Ai waa. Because I have officially decided that I WILL include them in an upcoming chapter. I only know the Japanese romaji, not the English translation.  
  
I have been on a Voltron craze here lately. I don't know why, I can't seem to get enough Voltron. Am I strange for finding Prince Lotor somewhat attractive? Or thinking that Hunk is the hottest of the Voltron Force because he isn't so skinny that you could lay him across your lap and snap him like a twig? I like my guys to have some MUSCLE! And Hunk clearly has that. And I have found myself attracted to Keith/Allura fanfiction, when I find Allura VERY loud mouthed and annoying. Of course not as annoying as Nanny, but pretty close. I miss the music to the show, the music was really cool. Maybe when I get together enough cash I will get the boxed set of episodes off of eBay. That's a good idea! I should do that. Any other Voltron fans out there? I know that it is old, but often older shows are the better ones. All of the anime mecha shows are rips of Voltron because Voltron was the original. It came out a while before Macross had even made the scene.  
  
Sayonara Narya of the fire 


	11. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Listen everyone, a little thing called life is getting in the way again. I have officially started band camp and practices are 12 hours every day. Count the hours yourself, eight thirty in the morning to eight thirty at night. And by evening I am whipped, so I won't have hardly any time to work on my story. This Friday I am getting out early so there will be major progress on chapter eleven and I PROMISE to have it out to you by Sunday evening. But that just shows how hectic things are right now. I have an hour break during practice where I can go home, so that is when I am writing this. An hour isn't much time to progress on my story and I have to eat dinner and everything then go back to the school and march my ass off until eight thirty. My live journal will still be updated, so if you want more info keep track of that. The link can be found in my profile under homepage.  
  
After this Sunday it is going to be a while before the next chapter will be up and out. I am sorry, but that is just how the dice rolls. Fate has dealed me a double-shit hand.  
  
See you later, I have to get back to practice.  
  
Narya of the fire 


	12. A Gift to Remember

Chapter 11!!!!!!! Boo yeah! I am sooooooooooo sorry this took so long to get out, but if you check out my live journal, the link can be found in my profile, you will know why it took so long. I have had marching band hell and now school has officially started. I am behind in my credits, so that means extra classes, and then marching practice is EVERY night for three hours. So on the weekend I am beat and all I want to do is sleep. It is called a little thing called life. Sigh. Also the computer had to have some (cough cough) work to be done to it, and I have been in an Eowyn/Faramir mood for a while. No fair that there isn't any Eowyn and Faramir doujinshii because I would spend a good amount of money on some, they are my favorite lord of the rings couple. I also am beginning the preliminary planning for a fantasy novel I want to write. It is about Elves and Wizards and such. Anyway, here is chapter 11.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. It is all property of J.K Rowling. And right now I am too tired to think up of a witty phrase that I normally put in here. All I have to say is that all you lawyers can go screw off.

Out of sheer curiosity, how many of you writers out there hate, hate, hate, HATE it when some little (insert nasty word) keeps on pointing out every single little mistake? The same person, I won't say who it is, has sent me almost 15 different e-mails pointing out ridicules and teeny tiny little details that play absolutely NO part AT ALL. If someone points some things like I accidentally placed Tonks in Ravenclaw then I changed it to Gryffindor I thanked that person who pointed it out. But someone else keeps on saying things such as 'you changed this person's eye color from the first chapter' or 'that isn't how you described it in chapter 3', please STOP IT! The person who is doing this doesn't send them in a review, they send them just like a flame and it is really beginning to piss me off. PLEASE STOP IT!!!! I will pay more close attention, but please stop doing that. Actually I doubt this person even has an account. I constantly go back in my chapters and try and make sure that I don't make any mistakes but I am only human. I am NOT perfect. If you go to any Harry Potter fan site, they have a section just for mistakes that Rowling HERSELF made, so unless that person is a perfect human-being they NEED to stop.

And now with THAT out if the way, enjoy chapter 11.

XVIVX

Two days later after Lily and James had 'confessed' their love it was Christmas Day. The previous day, James had found an excuse to stay with the Evans' over Christmas. According to James, something Lily doubted very greatly, his family went to France for the holiday and because James didn't want to see it, he was allowed to stay behind. Lily of course didn't believe that cock-and-bull story for a single fraction of a second. But on the other hand, Mr. and Mrs. Evans seemed just fine with the explanation James had given them, and even invited him to stay until the new term started at Hogwarts. James, being the gentleman that he 'presented' himself as, declined the offer and said that he would meet Sirius on Christmas to pick him up, and he would stay at Sirius' place (AFTER Sirius had moved out of James' home, and gotten a place of his own). As always on Christmas Eve, Lily and her mother cooked a magnificent dinner for the family and James. But Mrs. Evans winked at Lily a few too many times during the course of preparing dinner and made too many suggestive comments about James. And, as tradition in the Evans family, Lily and her father set up the little manger scene with baby Jesus. Naturally, James stared at the small figures in wonder because they didn't move around or make any noise. Lily could tell by the expression on his face that James was thinking, 'damn, muggles sure are weird,' but a stern look from Lily and James kept his thoughts to himself.

Dinner that night went smoothly as well, a little too smoothly in fact. Everyone at the table seemed oddly formal in the way they ate and even how the spoke. Mrs. Evans used words that Lily didn't think her mother even knew, and Mr. Evans was completely silent, which for him was very unusual. Mr. and Mrs. Evans had been hoping that Petunia and Vernon could make Christmas dinner but they were disappointed, or in Lily's case relieved, that they would be eating with Vernon's family. James had noticed the look of relief wash over Lily and asked Mrs. Evans if the two sisters didn't care for each other's presence. To which Mrs. Evans simply replied, "Oh that? It is just sibling rivalry, that's all". James could tell that Lily was restraining herself from speaking up, and he made a mental note to ask about it later. It had to be a touch subject if it caused Lily to squirm in her seat and her upper lip twitch when Petunia's name was mentioned.

After dinner had ended Lily offered to help clean up, but her mother flatly refused her help and insisted that Lily spend some more time with James. James, for his part, was busy playing around with her parent's television, insisting that it was a Warlock who came up with the idea. When Lily entered the highly furnished living room, with the small T.V in the middle she could see James tapping it with his wand. She was highly amused that James could be so fascinated by a muggle contraption. "James, it is called a television or T.V for short," she said.

James jumped slightly and turned around to acknowledge that Lily had entered the room. "Oh it's you Lils". He tapped the T.V with his wand again. "I know what it is, Sirius has one of these at his house," James said.

"But aren't the Blacks..." Lily said.

"Yes they are, but he skived off. Old Sirius got sick and tired of listening to all their stupid 'Pure-blood' mania. He lives on his own now," James told Lily. "But haven't I told you that before?"

"Come to think of it, you have. I guess I must have forgotten," Lily said as she blushed a light pink.

"So, how do you work this thing? No matter how many times I tap it with my wand nothing happens. It is shows this muggle guy saying that something about this thing called 'pot' on the up-rise and how all of the muggle law enforcement is trying to stop it (A/N: Hey, remember it IS the 70's)," James remarked.

Lily burst out laughing. Tears of laughter stained her checks. James gave her a puzzled look, to which she just began to laugh harder. Once she regained control, Lily took the remote off the couch and changed the channel. "This, James, is called a remote. You use it to change the channel. And what you were just watching is called the News," Lily said.

"Oh. Muggles always do make things out to be more complicated than they really are," James muttered to himself.

"Just to the simple mind they are," Lily smarted with a smirk.

"Yeah we...hey, you aren't calling me dumb are you?" James said with fake insult.

"Maybe your mind isn't so simple after all," Lily managed to say between small chuckles.

"Oh hush Lils".

For a good remainder of the evening, the pair flirtatious went back and forth with mock insults. It wasn't until Mr. and Mrs. Evans walked into the room did the pair calm down and regained their common sense. The family, and James, watched a Christmas movie before Mr. and Mrs. Evans went to bed; once again, leaving Lily and James alone together. Since James' love confession Lily had been much more hesitant around James. Lily felt somewhat scared of those three little words that came out of James' mouth the previous night. But with time the words did eventually sink in and Lily had come to full terms that she loved James. Even if she had no idea just how that emotion popped up in all the sudden, Lily was quite certain that it was love that she was feeling. After all, all of the stories her mother had told her as a little girl about couples falling in love were just like the emotions Lily felt inside. James of course thought Lily was sound asleep and so naturally knew not that Lily had heard his confession. Lily didn't want to touch on that subject, but she didn't know what sort of subject to turn to. With all of those thoughts swirling up in her at once, Lily announced that she too wanted to go to bed.

"It's only 9!" James said who was so engrossed in the T.V. that Lily was surprised he heard her at all. He turned to face Lily, and stared directly into her eyes; hazel orbs meeting emerald green pits.

"Sooner I go to bed, the sooner I get to open presents tomorrow," Lily said.

"Very true. But I would bet that the real reason is you want to see my splendid body in your dreams," James mocked.

Lily managed to not turn red, and retorted "Splendid eh?" she said. Truth be told, she had dreamed about seeing him nude and having her small slender form being embraced in his strong arms and chest.

"Or maybe we should concoct another one of those dream potions and add a little chocolate. There is nothing to lose; you would get some extra credit in his class and I..." James smirked. He had a dream, and a magnificent one at that, about shagging Lily in the library when he had taken the potion for Lantis, but Lily didn't know about it and he didn't intend to tell her

"Don't tell me you know about that?" Lily said. She hadn't told a living, or dead, soul about the dream she had and never intended too either. So how could James know?

"Know about what?" James questioned.

"No. Nothing," Lily said going red.

"Please, that is always what girls say," James said playfully. In once swift movement James managed to pounce Lily. Soon they were both on the floor with Lily on her back and James on top of her, staring each other in the face. Both had smiles, and in Lily's case red cheeks and both hearts were pounding a mile a minute. James kissed Lily softly on her cheek, to which Lily responded with a small giggle. But as the sound of a creaking door came across both their ears, they soon regained a civil position sitting on opposite ends of the couch. As it turned out, Mr. Evans had come out for a drink of water. Once he was finished, he warned to two teenagers that wild sex was strictly forbidden with a chuckle, and they went back to bed.

After the door was securely shut, Lily scooted over to James. She kissed him lightly on the lips and whispered in his ear that she was going to bed. Soon the form of Lily Evans was nothing but a shadow slowly becoming small and smaller as she ascended the stair case to her room. James sat on the couch in the glow of the television as Lily's form disappeared. He smiled silently to himself, oh yes, Lily had most definitely heard what he had said the previous night. The way she was acting made it clear as crystal.

VIV...the next morning...

On Christmas morning James woke up early to find that he had fallen asleep on the couch. The T.V. was still on, but luckily he was the first one awake and quickly shut it off with the remote control that Lily had shown him. In another corner of the room, the Evan's Christmas tree was standing tall and proud. James could clearly see that a pile of presents lay waiting for him. Apparently his mother must have told Sirius, Remus and Peter that he would be at Lily's. Of course, Sirius was with him when they went looking all around London for Lily, but Sirius had never actually found out where Lily lived. After the bookshop with the annoyingly hyper woman at the café Sirius had thrown in the towel and had left for his small muggle place where he was living in London, away from the Black family.

James took out his wand, and muttered "Accio cloak" and his black traveling cloak that he had left at his house zoomed into the Evans' living room. James had forgotten that his Christmas gift to Lily was inside it, and realized it the previous night after Lily had went up to her bed room. The present was something he found in Diagon Alley, the day after Christmas break began. His mother had dragged him to Diagon Alley for some much needed Christmas shopping and when James saw it, he knew instantly that it was the perfect gift. Mrs. Potter had questioned with a slight flame in her eye as to why James wanted to buy that particular item, and James just simply said that it was to one of his friends. Evelyn Potter of course was not idiot and knew exactly why he wanted it. Not wanting to embarrass her son, Mrs. Potter gave James the money, no questions asked.

Soon the young wizard's belly gave a loud grumble. Only then did James realize that he was hungry and he made his way into the kitchen. Using his wand he summoned a glass (a/n: Both James and Lily are seventeen) with some orange juice in it, and levitated a muffin to his mouth. 'Magic is always so much better than having to do everything by hand,' he thought to himself. Half an hour, and two more glasses of juice and one more muffin later, James was beginning to grow bored of the lack of noise. It was never that quite in the Potter household, even when everyone was still sleeping. The Ghoul in the attic was always throwing around boxes of old boxes of clothes or china, the garden Gnomes could be heard from a mile around harassing Orpheus, and the house elf, Fissa, was always fidgeting around hurrying to get breakfast ready. Life was always boring when it was too quite, in James' eyes.

The creak of the wooden floor told James that someone had woken up. He turned around to see Lily in a pair of black sweat pants and a loose white tank top, while her hair was a wild mess of auburn. Clearly she had just woken up and didn't know that anyone else was awake. In her hands was a package of some-kind that she seemed to be trying, and failing, to hide from view. If she had known, Lily would have at least put on a bra, but James couldn't help but notice she wasn't. Lily still hadn't noticed James was in the kitchen, but as she rounded the corner, her eyes became as wide as saucers and she made a quick getaway. The image of Lily's chest without a bra in a thin white shirt stubbornly refused to leave James' head. When James heard Lily storm off up the stairs and shut the door, he said softly to himself, "Damn, those Hogwarts uniforms sure to cover up a LOT".

Two hours and no Lily later James decided to watch some T.V. The remote was stuffed under the couch so it took James quite a while to dig it out until he preformed a summoning charm. He clicked the 'on' button and the T.V. came alive with sound and images. As James surfed the channels all he could find were Christmas shows for little kids and six different channels airing the same old news stories but in different orders. Soon Mr. and Mrs. Evans emerged from their room and inquired as to where Lily was. "I haven't seen her this morning," James simply responded, grateful that Lily's parents couldn't see the imaged that was playing over and over in his head.

"Well that is unusual. Normally she is the first one awake on Christmas Day," Mrs. Evans said bubbly. "James would you be a dear and go wake her up?"

"Err...sure Mrs. Evans," James said hesitantly. He had the distinct feeling that after the sight he saw several hours earlier he would not the person that Lily wanted to see. After all, once the "Snivellus" event in their fifth year had come to a close, Lily refused to even look James in the face for weeks.

He went up the stairs to the upper level of the Evans' house. There were three separate rooms to add to the two rooms on the ground level. On the right was a hall where the bathroom was. Just before the bathroom on the left was a spare room that James assumed was once Petunia's old room, even though he had never met Lily's sister, and he got the distinct feeling that Lily didn't want James to meet her. To the left there was a room with the door firmly shut. On the outside of the door there was a sign that read "Lily's Room" and under the caption it said "go away". James chuckled. That would be a door hanger that Sirius would absolutely love to have. James knocked on the door. The voice that was Lily's was soon heard as she shouted "COME IN"

James opened the door and quickly glanced inside. He shut out the image that had been haunting him all morning and went inside Lily's room. Her room did not have that many furnishings, just a daybed that lay under the window with emerald green sheets. Right beside the door was a nicely furnished cherry wood dresser, with a small mirror lying on top, as well as a sizeable tape player (remember this IS the 70's. CD's weren't invented. At least, I think they weren't. I need to go check.) Next to her bed was a nightstand with an oriental lamp on it and a small jewelry box made from abalone (if you don't know what it is, it is what lines the inside of a clam's mouth. It is a beautiful color, and has so many different designs they are so cool. I have a LOT of abalone jewelry). Her cat's carrying cage was situated at the foot her bed. Lily was sitting on her bed wearing the same thing she wore earlier, only this time with a bra. Her hair had also been brushed out. "Hey James," she said quite cheerfully.

It seemed like she didn't even mind the situation down stairs, so James knew better than to bring it back up. "Your parents want you downstairs, something about opening Christmas presents," James said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. After all, it was Christmas day.

"Alright, let me just finish wrapping this gift up," Lily said. That was when James noticed that she had several gifts on her bed that were quickly wrapped in Newspaper. Each had a nametag on it, one for Mrs. Evans, Mr. Evans and Petunia. James knew that he parcel that she was holding had to be her gift to him. Lily tried her best to keep the package concealed as much as possible, but James did spot the name tag that said "To James" on it. He smiled. Of course his Lily-flower wouldn't forget to give him a Christmas present. As she stuck the name tag on the box she looked up to James and said, "All right, let's go". She grabbed all four packages and went downstairs with James to meet her parents.

As they were walking down James said, "Hey Lils..."

"What James?" she answered

"Err...you better have gotten something good for me for Christmas," James said smiling. He didn't care what Lily got him. James originally meant to ask if Lily and her family minded if a couple more friends came over to open presents with them, but he held his tongue and changed the subject. He couldn't very well leave his best blokes out Christmas. Once James found out the exact address where Lily lived he sent an owl to Sirius, Remus and Peter. They were due at any moment. James had told Mr. and Mrs. Evans already, though Lily had no clue. Mr. and Mrs. Evans just said "the more the merrier", but James begged them to keep it a secret from Lily, it was supposed to be a surprise. After all, nothing worked better as a surprise than to have all your friends come in. No doubt Anthy, Dorcas and Amberle were invited as well, but James doubted they would make it. Amberle was all the way in Hogsmead and Dorcas and Anthy were all the way wherever they lived. James didn't know exactly where the resided.

Down in the living room Mr. and Mrs. Evans were waiting for Lily and James. The couple was huddled up by the Christmas tree. When Lily and James came down the stairs Mrs. Evans handed Lily a gift and said, "Here you go. The first present is yours Lily," she said in an airy voice. The box was small, and it was clear that it contained some type of Jewelry.

"Thanks Mum," she replied as she set down her gifts under the tree. Lily then noticed the pile of gifts that were for James. She smiled, it figures. Only James would summon is presents all the way from his house. Lily took a seat on the couch and began ripping her gift open furiously. When the wrapping paper was all torn off Lily looked at the small little black box. She opened it up and inside there was a silver ring with an Emerald set into it. "Thank you mum, dad!"

"Your father picked it out. He thought it would go nicely with your necklace," Mrs. Evans said. The ring was obviously not of the best quality, but it had to have been expensive none-the-less. Lily, with a trembling hand, slipped the ring onto her finger. She said thank you once again to her parents, and sat back down. It was someone else's turn to open a present.

Just at that exact moment, two loud gunshots went off in the Evan's living room. Lily jumped up in her seat. She knew that sound. She knew EXACTLY what that sound was. it was the sound of someone appariting. She only knew of two people who would appariate into the Evan's living room. As she saw the two faces of the people who just popped in, her suspicions were confirmed. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were standing right smack dab in Lily's living room. Her eyes became as wide as saucers. Then as she regained her usual composer Lily glared over at James. He HAD to be the one who invited them. Only James would do such a thing. The expression on his face suggested that he had been waiting for the pair of them to show up all along. "Oi Padfoot, Moony, what took you so long? I was beginning to think that you got lost," James exclaimed.

"We almost were for a second. Then good ol' Remus thought to write down directions to Lily's house," Sirius replied. Slung around his back was Sirius' school bag, that was obviously full of poorly wrapped gifts, it was clear that Sirius used old clippings from the Daily Prophet to wrap the gifts. Remus' weren't in any better condition. Lily sighed, only the Marauders would wait till the last minute to wrap their Christmas presents.

"It's a good thing I wrote them down, because somehow I knew that a certain dog, no names of course, would forget the directions," Remus said. The three of them laughed.

"Where is Peter?" James asked?

"He said that he had some unfinished business and he would try to make it as soon as possible," Sirius said. "Don't worry though, he asked me to give all of you guys his gifts. Or else my school bag wouldn't be about to split a seam," Sirius continued as he put down his black school bag, Remus did the same.

"Hey Lily," Remus said. "How has your Christmas been so far?"

"It would have been a lot better if a certain someone hadn't shown up, but things are good," Lily joked. James gave a false look of offense.

For the next hour the Marauders, Lily and Mr. and Mrs. Evans opened and unwrapped Christmas presents. Lily, who had not known that Sirius and Remus would be coming, had already sent their gifts away via owl. "Sorry about that," she said. All the pair of them said in response was "no worries Lils," Once all of Mr. and Mrs. Evans gifts had been opened and passed around, the pair of them disappeared into another part of the house (they do that a lot don't they). The four teenagers sat all around the Christmas tree and joked about things that they would normally never say in front of an adult authority figure. There was only one present left to be given out, and it happened to be James' gift to Lily. He wanted to save it till the end; hopefully it would be Lily's favorite gift. Lily was currently involved with Sirius and Remus who were ranting on about Snape. James starred at her and for a second began to think about how much she had changed. No, James thought to himself, she hadn't changed; she just came out of her shell. He figured that she was the same Lily Evans through and through; it was just the first time she had shown her true personality to the world. He loved that about Lily, she shined brightly on everyone who knew her.

James pulled out his from behind him and gave it to Lily to open. Sirius and Remus looked on with smug expressions; James figured that they were prepared to make some smart remark as soon as Lily was gone from the picture.

Lily took the small parcel. It was long and narrow, much like the box that held an Ollivander's Wand. She tore away the scarlet wrapping, which oddly enough was finely wrapped, that could only mean that James' mother had wrapped it for him. Once the wrapper was off, it revealed a small rectangular cardboard box. She lifted the top off and her eyes almost seemed to water at the gift, but she held them back because she didn't want Sirius and Remus to see her that way. James' gift was a single white rose, but apparently it was enchanted so that it would live forever and never wilts. A small card was attached to it; on it in James' terrible handwriting it said "Dear Lily Flower, Merry Christmas". It was so simple that it was perfect. Lily always loved the simple things, they were what made life the best. "Thanks James," she said. Lily carefully put the rose back in its box.

James just smiled his goofy smile that made every girl's heart melt. Of course Lily still being the sarcastic red head, and one of the few people immune to the Marauder's charm, just smirked. She had always liked James' smile, even if she wouldn't admit it, even to herself. His gift of the white rose was the best Christmas gift she had gotten in a long time, it was at least better than Petunia's gift, a note asking when she would be leaving. All she had to do was give James his gift, but she had to wait for the most opportune moment. The morning when she was going down for breakfast, Lily chose to go to down that early in hopes that James would still be asleep. When Lily saw him downstairs, and with his present in plain sight, she rushed up the stairs. She didn't want him to know what it was; his gift was going to be a present that he would just have to wait for.

VXIXV

I AM SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG. (Gets down on knees) PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!!!!!!! I actually have some time on my hands now, and that is when I got this chapter out. Things have been so hectic that I just haven't had any time at all. I have officially decided to up the story rating to R. When chapter 12 comes out, look for my story under the R ratings. I don't think my story will be specifically an R rating, but it will definitely go above PG-13, so the rating is going up. It should be around PG-15, so don't worry.

For all of you who are eagerly awaiting the arraival of book 6, I would suggest that you read the Shannara books by Terry Brooks. They are some fantastic stories. My suggestion would be to start out with (if you haven't read any yet) with The Sword of Shannara, OR The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: The Isle Witch. If you love Harry Potter or Tolkien you will love Terry Brooks, I promise you. I have read all 10 of his Shannara books and I am awaiting for The High Druid of Shannara to come out in paperback, which it dose this Tuesday. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I can't wait to see what becomes of Grianne when she is an official Druid, and what trouble comes out of the new Druid Council, and who is the new Ohmsford child.


	13. Dementors and Petunia

CHAPTER 12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And this time, it took less than half the time it took to get chapter 11 out, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Thank you everyone, and an especially big thank you (as always) to the people who reviewed. As I said in the last chapter, I have officially upped the rating to R. In the next two or three chapters (more likely less than that) the story will get somewhat graphic and I don't want anyone getting offending and flaming me saying "YOU SAID IT WAS PG13" Who needs that? So I upped the rating. Seeing as how it is R, there might might might might and I stress the word, might, put in some R material, but ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to the extent of NC-17, I point black refuse to do NC-17. The R rating will be mainly for violence and much darker themes; however I do plan a make-out scene or two (not more than three) that goes beyond the PG13 limit. With that said, on with the story.

Also that whole, Lily spying on Voldemort and Bellatrix thing, it DOSE play a part later, but not right now. I didn't waste three chapters writing just to be a bitch. It plays a role later on.

I got a little soft when I wrote this. I was listening to my favorite Japanese song of all times, Toki ni ai waa (Right now love is..) by Masami Okui when I wrote it. With the combination of the pair I even got a little sappy. I wish I had someone like James. (Sigh)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Blah blahh...all is property to Rowling...blahh blahh blahh blahh... accuse me of stealing it and I will kill you...blahh...blahh...blahh.

CHAPTE R 12

Christmas vacation seemed to end all too soon for Lily. Before she even knew it, it was the 2 nights before she was to return to Hogwarts. That night Petunia and Vernon were to eat dinner with the Evans' and James, who still hadn't left, was to be eating too. The idea that James and Petunia would finally meet and, undoubtedly, lock horns, sat rather weird in Lily's mind. On the one hand there was no doubt that Petunia would bitch off to James and her sister, calling them both freaks. Then she would storm out of the room with Vernon muttering on how "unfair" life was to her, and somewhere in between that call Lily a bitch, and or whore. On the other hand Lily knew for a fact that James would not put up with anything of the sort and he would retaliate. But the idea of James being with her almost seemed to sooth the idea of Petunia and Vernon both being in the same room with a Witch and Wizard at the same time. Nothing good would come of it, but perhaps things wouldn't all go to hell, or at leas that is what Lily hoped. One could only hope for the best when some fool was holding a red flag in front of a bull, or worse, a pair of bulls.

James had not yet had the "pleasure" of meeting Petunia, and Lily hoped that the circumstances wouldn't be the way they were. Lily knew that the combined arrogance and, in Petunia's case, prejudice, would produce nothing good. She just hoped that James would not retort to his wand. If that were the situation, Petunia would scream and claim James wa going to kill her, Vernon would jump James and the two would be in a struggle on the floor to which there was two outcomes; Vernon, being the bigger person would beat the crap out of James, or two James would curse Vernon to have dog ears and croak like a toad. The idea of Vernon croaking like a toad was rather humorous, but the consequences with Hogwarts AND The Ministry of Magic would show no humor what-so-ever. Lily however, thought Vernon should have the voice of a pig instead of a toad. She chuckled to herself at the thought.

Petunia and Vernon were to arrive around eight-o-clock. It was seven thirty and Lily was busy getting dressed. Her parents wanted both her and James to look nice for Petunia and Vernon because it would be the last time Lily would see Petunia for another year, possibly more. 'The less I see Petunia the better,' Lily thought savagely. That afternoon when Mrs. Evans said she wanted James to look nice, James immediately summoned a pair of black, silk robes but Lily informed him on what proper means to a muggle. Lily's father, who was around James' size, allowed James to borrow some of his clothes, although Lily would have given anything in the world to see the expression on her sister's face of James walked into the room wearing silk robes. Petunia would no doubt faint in her seat right then and there. For dinner Lily wore a long black skirt and the red shirt she bought at The Purple Lizard. Around her neck was, of course, her father's necklace and she wore small stud earrings. Her hair was tied back, revealing her dazzling green eyes. Lily didn't wear any makeup because she thought that dinner with Petunia wasn't a good cause for her to go through all the hassle of makeup. She normally hated wearing it, which was the cause for why she never wore it at all, unless she was going to a formal banquet which she never did.

Lily went down the stairs into the living room where Mrs. Evans was peering nervously out the window. Lily sighed, 'it's the calm before the storm'. The calm was of course, awaiting toe arrival of Petunia, and the storm being when the world of magic and muggles clashed in the form of James and Lily vs. Vernon and Petunia. 'Well at least it should prove to be amusing when Petunia sees James', she murmured silently. Lily's mother turned to her daughter and said," Lily dear, will you please keep a look out for your sister and keep an eye on your friend?"

"Sure thing Mum," Lily said with the corniest smile she could conjure giving the situation.

"Thanks dear," Mrs. Evans said as she turned the corner and went to check up on dinner. She was wearing a simple black cocktail dress, and Mr. Evans was sporting an old suite that was four times bigger than his raggedy figure. James was upstairs getting dressed. Lily assumed that he was having trouble figuring out muggle clothing, she chuckled. Because he had not brought anything for the occasion, Mr. Evans had offered to let James borrow some of his clothes. Mr. Evans was no bigger than James, so their sizes were in the same range.

Up in a corner of Lily's room was her gift that she wanted to give James. The flower he gave her was the best gift that James could have ever given her. She only hoped that her gift would be the same. Lily had found it in Amberle's family owned store and she quickly purchased it before Christmas Break. Sirius would have most likely made immature faces and sounds, like he always did but in a good sense, and give James a hard time. That was the reason why she chose to give it to him when they were alone. Lily was caught up in her own thoughts when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped in response, temporarily losing touch with reality. Lily turned around and saw James behind her. He was wearing a pair of nice jeans and a black sweater. He apparently looked rather uncomfortable in it, but the combo looked very nice on him. It complimented his already divine figure. As always, his hazel eyes swirled in a boyish charm that gave James mischievous presence, his charming smile only added to the look. "Hey Lils," he said.

"You look nice," she said.

"How do muggles wear these things?" he burst out.

"If you were in my sister's position and you showed up wearing those silk robes she would be thinking the exact same thing," Lily responded. Lily sighed; she might as well tell James now. It would be much better for his health if he knew it before Petunia showed up, and he would be forewarned. "Speaking of my sister, there are a couple of things you need to know about her," Lily said.

"What?" James said.

"Both her and her fiancé, Vernon have a very...medieval...attitude about magic. They think that witches and wizards are freaks and should be banished from the Earth. My sister conceders me as a freak, and when she learns that you go to Hogwarts, she will also say the same thing. Please, please, PLEASE don't let what she says get to you, or, for that matter, what Vernon says," Lily said.

"Your sister considers you a freak..." James trailed on. That was pathetic when even your own flesh and blood would conceder you a freak. Now he knew why Lily got so tense whenever the subject of her sister was brought up. For Lily it was as sensitive a subject as it was with Hagrid being half-giant. That also explained why she didn't let anyone close to her until Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle, and why she didn't warm up to James for six years.

"Yes, she dose. She hates me. But do not let that cloud your actions; don't say anything to her or Vernon. This will hopefully be the last time I see the pair of them for a good many years. Despite the fact that she despises me and the feeling is mutual, I don't want my last meeting with her for several years to end on a bad note," Lily said.

"Don't worry Lils" James said. He often awed at Lily's maturity. She was beyond her years. That was why he cared about her so much, and why he is so attracted to her.

"Thanks James," Lily said with one hundred percent sincerity. She stood up on her tip toes and kissed James' check. Just then the lights of a car showed through the curtains and announced Petunia's arrival. Lily sighed and hollered to her parents that her sister had arrived.

VIV

Two hours into dinner and things had gone over rather smoothly given the circumstances that the two most magic haters and the Head Boy and Girl of Hogwarts were sitting in the same room. After a few snide glances the sister's eventually dropped the starring contest. Vernon looked disgusted when he saw James, and the look Petunia gave was no different. The pair of them looked revolted at James' presence. Lily dearly wanted to tell the couple to take their feelings about wizarding kind and shove it up their asses, but in the presence of her parents she was forced to hold her tongue. Both Lily and James kept silent for a majority of the dinner while Petunia and Vernon rambled on about their plans for their wedding. Lily could care less because Petunia would not want her at her wedding to a perfectly normal man, and Lily just didn't want to go. On the other hand, Lily was at least glad that she found Vernon because the pair could complain all they could about magic. Both seemed to be made for each other; both hated magic and both were not gifted in their looks. Every once in a while the couple would make some snide comment, but Lily was far too used to it to care.

James on the other hand had to restrain his tongue at all of the snide comments. Several times Lily gave him a warning look about keeping silent. The strain seemed to be killing him, but he did indeed comply, at least until desert rolled around. Desert that night was a family tradition called Apple Crisps. They were Lily's favorite desert, and James, who had never had them before, took delight in complementing Mrs. Evans on her recipe. By then Mr. and Mrs. Evans were sipping coffee, and restrain their obvious yawns, Vernon and Petunia apparently ran out of things to say so they resorting to fondling each other, and James and Lily spent most of the time exchange sickened glances at the couple. Eventually even Petunia got tired of saying sweet nothings to Vernon and began talking again, slowly and almost sinisterly," So...I take it things are okay at that freak school of yours," she hissed, her horse-like teeth protruding from her upper lip.

"What dose it matter to you?" Lily responded just as coldly. James made an attempt to say something, but when Lily gave him another glance he turned his comment into a cough.

"Don't even bother asking Petunia, I doubt they are even capable of a normal answer," Vernon cut in spitting acid.

"Too true, what would she know about being normal," Petunia said putting a delicate stress on the word normal.

"Funny, because in our world you two would be considered freaks, so maybe you should think in the point of view of others instead of your own," James burst in. he didn't care what Lily had said or warned about. He wouldn't allow her to be insulted by those two who were so selfish and inconsiderate that they couldn't see past their own desires. It was enough to make anyone's blood boil. James had now clue how Lily put up with it for seven years, since they day she got her letter. 'She sure as hell won't put up with it anymore, not if I have anything to do with it,' James thought bitterly.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were capable speaking," Vernon said. "A scruffy looking person like you most likely hasn't had the proper schooling to speak. Or do you only know those magic tricks? I suspect that Houdini's trickery would be out of your league," Vernon added, adding fuel to the already deadly flame.

"James, this dose not concern you. And you..." Lily growled at Vernon, "Do not EVER insult him like that again. You know NOTHING," Lily said, slowly loosening the grips on her explosive temper. That fat headed pig had no right no reason to insult James.

"Are you threatening him? What could you ever do to him? Wave your stick and say 'hocus pocus'," Petunia mocked.

"'Hocus Pocus' is it? Would you like to find out," Lily said. She drew out her wand from the back pocket in her skirt. "You have no right to insult what you do not understand," she said full of rage and hatred. Her feelings for her sister were of nothing but hatred, deeper than the hatred for the Dark Lord.

"No Lily, don't!" James said. "A muggle isn't worth facing the ministry," he said.

"You should listen to your little boyfriend," Vernon said. By that point Mr. and Mrs. Evans had left the room. The pair of them had learned many years ago to stay out of Lily and Petunia's fights. As much as they hated the fact that their daughters fought like bulls, they couldn't help it. The only thing they could do with a clear conscious was to just stay out of them.

"I doubt she even ranks up to a girlfriend, a whore is more like it, "Petunia said.

At that Lily couldn't take it anymore. Everything was all screwed up, so screwed up that Lily lowered her want and turned around and left the room. She was called a whore more times by the Slytherins than she could count, but when her own sister called her that it was like someone kicking her in the chest. A tear trickled down from her face. Lily walked almost robot like up the stairs and into her room. She closed the door almost without noise.

Downstairs James was in shock. He never saw Lily get that emotional. Ever. Normally when she was angry she muttered a series of devastating spells and curses, both magic and non, at the object of her anger. Only this time she was so caught up in her emotions she just broke down and cried silent tears. The only other time he saw her cry was the aftermath of Rodulphos Lestrange's attempted assault. But she did not cry silent tears that time, silent tears was a sign of beyond anger and beyond grief. James threw Petunia and Vernon the looks of the ut-most loathing that a human being can manage and went up the stairs to find Lily. He murmured, "Bitch", under his breath but obviously Petunia didn't catch it. She just stood there with a snobbish look on her face. How did Lily put up with seventeen years of hell living with that cold heartless bitch? James would have no doubt cracked and cursed her into oblivion. Just how Lily accomplished that was a more miraculous feat that the wizard who first invented the wand. Seeing Lily like that scarred him in a way. She had to have been hurt beyond belief for her to just leave that way, and openly let a stray tear fall down her cream colored face.

When he went up into Lily's room she was just sitting on her bed, crying silently. Her green eyes lost their spark and Lily did not even notice James' presence until he said softly, "Lily".

"I hate her. I HATE her," Lily said with clenched fists.

James moved slowly towards her and sat down next to her. "It's okay. It's okay," James smoothed. Lily snuggled against James, crying into his sweater, and James took her slender form and embraced her. For at least an hour Lily just sobbed into him while James tried to sooth her. Lily was grateful for James. She loved James. In that simple action of being there when she was in need proved beyond all doubt that he loved her. When James had whispered it into her ear Lily scarcely dared to believe it until that night. And it was when she truly realized she loved him beyond anything in the world. She loved him more than anything in the world and beyond the world. Lily wanted to be with him forever, for time to stop and their love to last for eternity. Eternity was a long, long time and Lily would give even her life to spend it with James and James alone.

Eventually Lily regained some of her composer and stopped crying. She sat up straight and said "Thank you,"

James gave his trademark smile. Words weren't needed to express what he was feeling. Then James spoke up in an attempt to get Lily to smile," your sister is more shriveled up than a dementor," he said.

"Demen-what..," Lily said.

"Opss...sorry about that Lils. A dementor is the creature that guards the wizarding prison of Azkaban," James said. "Like your sister, they suck out all the happiness you feel whenever they are around you," he explained.

"Sounds like a dementor and my sister would get along great," Lily said with a small laugh.

James smiled; he loved it when Lily laughed. She was so beautiful and full of life when she smiled and laughed. Laughter always made life more beautiful, especially Lily's laughter. James laughed in spite of himself, it was a really good thing that Sirius couldn't read his thoughts, or else James would never hear the end of it.

As Lily regained herself she remembered James' present. To his puzzlement she got up and grabbed a small parcel wrapped in scarlet paper with snitches on it. "I didn't want to give you this in front of Sirius and Remus, but here it is, your Christmas present," she said. Lily hoped and prayed that he would like it.

"And to think, I was beginning to think that you had completely forgotten," he joked. James tore away the paper to reveal Lily's gift. Inside of a cherry wood box was a sold gold broom compass. James starred in awe at the present. And here he was thinking she would get him a new Quaffle to replace the one he "accidentally" blew up in the summer. There was not doubt that the compass had been expensive. James flipped over the compass to the back were his names was engraved in fancy letters. "Wow, thanks. This is perfect," he said with complete honesty.

"I hoped you would like it," Lily said nervously. She bore a shy smile and a light blush crept on her checks.

"It's the best," James said as he pulled Lily in close for a kiss.

On the other side of the door, Petunia's head was in a twist trying to take in what she had just overheard.

XIX

The next morning everyone said goodbye and, in James' case, good riddance, to Petunia and Vernon. Everything would now return to as close to normal as one could manage. Lily and James only had one more day before they were to return to Hogwarts. Oddly enough James already had plans. Not too far away was the place Sirius was living at. He lived around an hour away and on the edge of the woods, a small field was adjacent to his house, which served as a sort of make shift Quidditch field. Although James knew that Lily hated flying with a passion in her soul, he thought it would be a good idea to visit Sirius and try and liberate Lily from her deadly fear. Sirius had been informed on James plan even if Lily had no clue, and he wanted to keep it that way. In case Lily didn't have any Floo powder, he brought some with him so they could be at Sirius' in two jumps.

As it turned out, Lily had a healthy supply of Floo Powder. Her parents were gone for the day so the two teenagers were free to do as they wished. The only information Lily had was James planned on dragging her to Sirius' house, where most likely Remus and Peter were staying at as well. James stepped into the fire place and threw the Floo Powder. In a flash of emerald light the words "The Dog Star" and James was gone. Lily figured that the 'dog star' was the name of the place were Sirius was living. She followed James' example and in a series twists and turns she found herself in an unfamiliar kitchen where James and Sirius were talking.

"Hey Lils, what took you so long? First time Floo powder user," Sirius joked. Lily just laughed softly.

The three spent a while catching up on times and Sirius eventually came around to the question of why the hell did Lily stop hated James all the sudden and agree to go out with him? It was a question that Lily just responded with, "I'll answer that question the day that you stop playing jokes on Snape," she joked.

"If that's the case then I don't want to know. There is nothing more fun than giving good old Snape a hard time," Sirius said.

"I must agree with you on that Padfoot," James added in. Well humiliating Snape was the second most fun thing to do in James' mind. Being with Lily and giving Snape a more than hard time were his favorite pastimes. Those and Quidditch, that had to be in the top three somewhere too. "Say, where is Moony and Wormtail?" James asked.

'Wormtail,' Lily thought to herself. The name sounded somewhat familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it. It was as if she were trying to remember something from a time long since. 'Well if I can't remember it, it isn't important,' she figured.

"Remus is going to be here in a few hours and Peter said that he had something else to do. Funny he always seems to be preoccupied with something. I haven't seen him all Christmas," Sirius said.

"Well that's Peter for you," James said

XIX (I do this a lot in this chapter, get over it)

Three hours, and a two course lunch later, James was having a rather hard time getting Lily to comply with the idea of flying around on a broomstick. "No, absolutely not," Lily said, stamping down her foot. She hated flying almost more than Voldemort, her sister, Death Eaters and Professor Lantis. James knew that all too well to ask her to fly on a broomstick more than two inches off the ground. Her first time flying had been less than pleasurable, with something, or someone, speeding like an idiot towards Lily causing her to fall off her broom and break an arm. Since then no one had been able to get Lily off the ground. Despite the fact that both Dorcas and Amberle were avid Quidditch, and in Amberle's case Quodpot, fans Lily just couldn't get into the liking of flying. At least she had Anthy to stick by her. Anthy too, hated flying. Lily was just fine sitting safely and firmly on the ground, thank you very much.

"But Lils," James begged with a puppy dog smile. Lily, far too used to his puppy dog smile trick, was not one to be fooled.

"No is no. You know I hate flying," she said stubbornly.

"Bad luck Prongs, "Sirius mocked, who was a good 20 feet up in the air.

"Shove it Padfoot," James shouted, to which Sirius just laughed and soared even higher. The sky was a pure crystalline blue. Not a cloud could be seen for miles. It was perfect weather, even if the chill of Jack Frost nipped at everyone. "Please Lily," he begged some more. "I won't go high, I promise," James said.

"You won't guy high, but who said you wouldn't go fast," Lily replied.

"I won't go high OR fast. Please Lily? Just one go, if you freak out I will land," James offered with the puppy dog eyes, smile and his boyish grin all wrapped in one. Even Lily couldn't resist. She finally threw away her pride as James landed with both feet on the ground.

She mounted the broom slowly and cautiously, as if sneaking up on a mob of Death Eaters. Not fully trusting James with a broom, no matter how strong her feelings were towards him, was clearly on her face and mind. Lily did not let James out of her eye sight for a split second. Once Lily was on the broom, James mounted in front of her (pervs!) and slowly began to rise from the ground. James could feel Lily's chest beat a mile a minute against his. Her entire demeanor had changed, she had become much more on edge and fidgety, as if trying, and failing miserably, to control and hide her fear. As the broom began lifting a few inches off the ground Lily grasped James' waist for dear life, 'And we aren't even off the ground yet!'. "Wait, James stop. Too high," Lily said.

"But then we would still be on the ground, "James said.

"That's the idea," Lily replied. James released one of his hands and put it gently over Lily's, trying to sooth her fear somewhat. Of course James had no one to blame but himself for her fear. When he had his first flying lesson at Hogwarts, James just "happened to notice" that the Quidditch team was practicing nearby. He wanted to show off that he was as good as anyone else on the team and began speeding off like a bullet. Before he knew what happened James ran into a large, red haired object, which was soon on the ground with a broken arm. Naturally James didn't give much of a care at the time, but later on, when he realized the full greatness of the female sex, he began to feel almost sorry for Lily with her phobia of flying.

At the touch of James' hand, Lily became much calmer, and soon James was several feet off the ground before Lily knew what was happening. She gripped his waist even harder, but James didn't mind; at least he didn't mind until "Oi James, I haven't seen you move that slow since the age of 6," Sirius mocked. James flipped Sirius the number one sign and continued to soar upwards. His speed never went up too high, and James seemed to have more fun with his Lily than what he normally did in fast paced Quidditch matches.

XVIVX

END CHAPTER

Well at least I got this one out a heck of a lot faster than I got the last one out. I am still so sorry for how long 11 took to get out. I apologize sincerely. Things with me have been hectic since school started (for more info, see my live-journal. Link in my profile under homepage) and writing has been a sort of release lately, but I haven't had the time. I must have worked on his story for twelve or thirteen times, but I only got MAYBE 15 minutes to write, that is why everything is taking so long. Once everything settles, down (AKA: AFTER marching season around November and Christmas) then I will get the chapters pumping out faster. Right now I am so far ahead with my credits that I next semester I may be able to get out of school around lunch on my even days. So that is more time to write AND I can start looking for a part time job, (dose the happy Frodo chicken dance).

My friends are writing their own manga and they want me to do some of the character designs. As much as I want to, I can't. I almost never pass up a chance to draw (unle$$ you can pre$uade me other wi$e $$$). I am that friggan swamped with school work and crap like that.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All flames will be laughed at and deleted. If they are that funny, I will post them in my next chapter for everyone to make fun of. HAHAHA)


	14. All It Takes is Time

Chapter 13 is out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Dose the Happy Frodo Chicken Dance) I love chicken dances. Currently I am dreading the homecoming football game tomorrow, so I need an outlet and I figured I ought to catch up on my fic. I thank all of you who are still reading. Thank you. (Bows down on knees).

I figured I ought to go ahead and say this, but there is SOME logic in my title, A Rose Among Thorns. You all know that James gave Lily a rose that would live forever, and I said in the summary that in midst of all chaos they fell in love, well say that their love represents the rose and chaos represents the thorns; Get it know? A Love Among Chaos. Well at least I understood the symbolism. And if you have seen the movie Adolescence Apocalypse, the Utena movie, you know that a significant theme is roses, thus why I am incorporating the song Toki Ni ai waa from that movie into my story. The use of lilies in J/L fanfiction is so overused so I thought I would use a rose instead. Roses are my favorite flowers (black are my ultimate fav, black and white roses). Also thanks to the person who noted my crappy grammar and spelling in the previous chapter. I am sorry about that, I was in such a hurry to get it done I got lazier than I should have. I re-read some parts of it, and hooly friggan goat ballz (MY phrase, no stealing), the grammar and spelling was bad. I mean very bad. I mean... (Well you get the idea).

Disclaimer: Everything is property of J.K. Rowling, the literary mastermind who is holding all of America/Britain/Japan in suspense waiting for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I own Anthy, Amberle, Professor Lantis, and any other characters you don't recognize. If you say I own it, I will kick your ass from here to Timbuktu.

Just found out that Warner Bros. IS in fact including the Yule Ball in the movie, so I am excited about that. I love that scene in Goblet of Fire. It is so funny how jealous Ron gets and him not even realizing he is jealous of Viktor. Hermione and Ron do make a sweet couple, but I still think that Hermione and Victor would work out too (dodges tomatoes from R/H fans). Has anyone actually seen a picture of the guy who is playing Krum? I haven't and I have been looking everywhere. The dude that is playing Cedric is HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean really hot. Steam coming out of your ears hot. Of course, nothing compared to Alan Rickman, but still, he is pretty good.

I think all realize my little hints about Anthy that I put in every four or five chapters, and most of you have figured it out, so I am going to stop beating around the bush with her character. If you have no clue about what I am saying, don't worry it will make a whole lot more sense in the next 3-5 chapters.

WARNING: This is the chapter that explains why I upped the rating. There is a flashback scene in which Lily and James get very intimate. Don't like, don't read. I am warning you know. It will, as always, be marked by the flash back signs and you can skip that if that sort of material offends you. Nothing significant happens with the plot, so you can skip it without feeling more lost than a 90 year-old man on a cane looking for his Viagra.

XVIVX

Before anyone knew it, it was time to go back to Hogwarts. Lily, for once, did not want to go back to Hogwarts. She just wanted to stay with James forever and not have to return to the school, but unfortunately reality had its last word. That morning Lily woke up to a note beside her bed. It was from James saying that he left early to meet with his parents before The Hogwarts Express left. Lily sighed; it was all for the better, after all with James' disorganization and his lack of knowledge of muggle transportation it would be the best thing if he wasn't around. Lily was somewhat grudging going back to school because then it would mean facing Professor Lantis, Snape and all the other Slytherins. Not to mention she and James had a lot of work to do for the Graduation Ball. The Graduation Ball was the main thing that Lily was dreading for several reasons. When Dumbledore had explained to them their duties he mentioned that the Head Boy and Girl were to do the opening dance. Of course, at the time Lily was sickened at the thought at dancing with James, but that was four months ago, 'amazing how feelings change,' she thought. But now that she realized how she felt about James Lily began to worry about controlling herself around him. Things were becoming harder and harder to keep under control. And the thought of dancing with him in close contact was frightening. Lily was sure that her parents knew by then the real relationship between her and James, which explained why they so often left the pair alone. It was as if they were encouraging them to have sex! That thought alone mortified Lily, and she chose to keep the thought in the deepest black pit of her head.

For the rest of the day Lily was fighting with herself about the idea. Around 10-o-clock she lost all thought of James and became more absorbed in getting to Kings Cross Station on time. Lily lived a half an hour from the station, and traffic was bound to be a nightmare. Luckily her parents had thought ahead and were waiting in car at 10:15. The journey was boring and monotonous. All thoughts of everything were erased as the scene of muggle London zoomed by Lily. She arrived at King's Cross with just 10 minutes to spare. In a rush Lily heaved her heavy trunk into Platform 9 ¾. Lily took her usual seat near the front of the large scarlet train, waiting for the arrival of Dorcas and Anthy. It was strange for Anthy to be late, because she was normally the one to come early, while Dorcas to get there just in the nick of time. Lily brushed the thought aside, after all everyone was late at one point or another in their life.

With only five minutes to go, Dorcas and Anthy burst through the door as if they had been running for hours. Dorcas came wearing normal muggle clothing, including a pair of jeans and black sweat shirt. Anthy too wore normal muggle clothing, a long black skirt, black sweater, but with black cloak. It gave off the appearance of Anthy as being gothic, with her long dark hair and pale complexion. Lily often envied Anthy in terms of how she looked. Anthy was always considered the "beautiful" one of Lily's group because of her dark appearance. Dorcas too had her own unique look, but hers was more along the lines of "don't screw with me, or I'll beat your ass". "Hey, what kept you two?" Lily said.

"If you knew, you would be sickened," Dorcas sighed.

"Yes you would," Anthy added in her soft voice. "As we got to the Platform we ran into Bellatrix Black and her group," she added.

"You mean Bellatrix Black and her group of idiots," Dorcas spat.

"Yeah, your right. Idiots describe them much better," Anthy said.

"Enough on how to classify that bitch and her gang. I think we all know that they are too foul for words, "Lily said. Anyone, down to the youngest muggle-born first year knew that Bellatrix was nothing but large pile of pond scum. 'No,' Lily thought, ' they are lower than pond scum. Lower than the amebas that makes up pond scum,' she said bitterly to herself. Bellatrix had called Lily a mudblood more times than even Snape, or Lucious Malfoy while he was still at school (A/N: In OotP, it was said that Malfoy was 41, and Rowling said in her National Book Day Interview that Snape was 35, and we know that James and Snape are the same age, so that means that Lucious had already graduated school and is seven years older than the Marauder generation).

"Too true. In any case, we were just getting on to the platform when that bitch came up and started calling you a whore," Dorcas said. "So Anthy and I err...corrected her on calling you a whore. Then Snape came up," Dorcas softly gagged at the sound of Snape's name, "and said that Potter has been staying at your place. We told him to go kiss a Death Eater's ass. So then, being the little slime-ball that he his, Snape drew his wand, along with Bellatrix's entire group. Anthy and I drew out our wands. Just as we were about to kick their arse the train conductor announced that the gates would close if we didn't hurry up and get on. So that is why we are late," Dorcas finished, moving a piece of stray hair from her face.

"So what's all this about you and Potter," Anthy asked. Rumors had been going though the school like wildfire for months. Even during Christmas brake, Anthy had heard rumors at Diagon Alley and the other places she visited.

"Is it true that that yank spent Christmas at your house," Dorcas questioned eagerly,

That time Lily blushed so red that her hair and face seemed to blend in with each other. She still hadn't said a word to Anthy, Dorcas or Amberle about how she felt with James. Lily just figured that as smart as the three were, and for as long as they have known Lily, with the exception of Amberle, that they would have gotten the hint between them. 'Apparently not,' Lily thought to herself. "Well yes..," she murmured.

"WHAT?!" Dorcas and Anthy shouted at the same time.

"It wasn't as if I invited him," Lily said quickly. "He just showed up and my parents wanted him to stay so he did. Nothing happened. Trust me," Lily explained to the best of her ability, without giving too much away.

"What has been going on between you and Potter lately? It seems that you two have gone from hating the other's existence for six years and then suddenly going out with him. I know that you can sometimes be spontaneous, but not with Potter," Dorcas said. Dorcas wasn't for or against the Marauders. She would often laugh at their jokes, especially on the Slytherins, but she disliked it when they played a particular joke on her. That very thing had happened in Dorcas' third year when they bewitched her potions homework to scream insults, in a high pitched opera-like voice, when the teacher would grade it. Needless to say, Professor Lantis was not pleased at all. Dorcas received four weeks worth of detentions due to that, and she blamed it all on the Marauders. However she did not loath them as Lily once did, and still laughed at their jokes. She just didn't want herself to be the butt end of any joke. That incident was one of the few times that Lily had ever seen Dorcas loose her usually cool temper. The Marauders had a choice of death or confessing to Professor Lantis that they were the ones responsible, and they choose death. All four of them had been admitted to the Hospital Wing; Remus and Peter were seen three days later and neither would say what happened, while James and Sirius didn't return until nine days after with large purple warts growing on both of their faces. Apparently the school nurse couldn't figure out a cure for the curse that Dorcas had inflicted. It was only after all of Dorcas' detentions were over when the pair confessed and Dorcas fixed their faces.

"Not much. I just realized that he is not as much of an ass as I once thought him to be," Lily said, which wasn't a lie at all. She did realize that James was not a conceded ass who only cared for his own well being. Lily just preferred to keep it to herself as to how much she warmed up to James.

"And dose this 'not realizing his as much of an ass that you once thought him to be' have anything to do with snogging young Mr. Potter," Anthy said in her dark voice with an obvious tint of amusement.

"Where in hell did you hear that James and I were snogging," Lily blurted out. Surely no one could have seen (A/N: hint hint).

"Only three fourths of the wizarding race," was Anthy's reply.

"Well then three fourths of the wizarding race is misinformed," Lily said matter-of-factly. A guilty lurch in her stomach kept Lily from sounding 100 percent true. Telling a lie to Dorcas and Anthy was different than lying to Petunia or even a fellow Gryffindor, or a Slytherin for that matter. In a way Lily felt like she was betraying their trust when she lied to her best friends. Her two best friends were somewhat skeptical, but they seemed satisfied with the answer they got. The trio eventually began talking about their plans for the semester and Lily's mind reflected on the events of two days prior.

XIX (flashback. Ok kiddies and folks who don't want to read this part close your eyes/ears or skip ahead)

The sun was beginning to sink behind the pale golden clouds and Lily and James were sitting together watching the sun go down. They were both still in the woods next to Sirius' house and neither had any intention of leaving. Since the flying earlier that day Lily and James seemed a little closer than usual. James helped Lily get over the fear that had petrified her for six years, and he was glad to do it. Lily on the other hand found out that flying wasn't so bad, as long as you had a pair of strong arms to cling to. James was more than happy to be those strong arms. Sirius had no idea that Lily and James were still on the land surrounding his house. By the time the pair announced that they wanted to leave, James suggested that they fly back and Lily accepted. Two minutes into the air and James landed, much to Lily's confusion and pointed out the sunset. He suggested that they stay and watch it. The happy couple was sitting atop a steep hill that overlooking many miles.

As the time went by, Lily began to get somewhat drowsy and feel asleep with her head on James' shoulder. James smiled inwardly when he felt the gentle press of Lily's head against his shoulder. It felt like Lily trusted him wholly, even during her most vulnerable state of mind, when she slept. To James that was a sign of ultimate trust, something that James valued beyond bravery and playing jokes on Snape. When the sun was finally on the other side of the mountains and darkness had come James softly shook Lily to wake her up. "Lils, listen I think that we had better get going. It's dark already," he said softly.

"Already?" Lily said tiredly. "If that is the case then we should get going," Lily said as stood up and brushed the dirt off her pants. In that moment James couldn't help himself, and noticed how good of a body his Lily had. It was perfect.

"You're right. Tomorrow we leave for Hogwarts," James stood up as well and brushed himself off. He took his broom and mounted it while Lily took her seat in the back. The dark haired teenager could feel himself go rigid with Lily's closeness, but did his best to hide it. He turned back to meet Lily's eyes and said, "You ready?"

"Yes," Lily said softly, meeting his gaze. Lily pulled just a little bit closer to James' face but she was met head on with a full-blown passionate kiss from James. The initial shock left her speechless for a couple of seconds until she returned his kiss with equal intensity. Words could not describe how much she loved him. Even if Lily dared not say it, she knew that James knew how she felt and shared her feelings.

James didn't know what made him kiss Lily at such an inopportune moment, but he didn't care. He figured that it had to have been her alluring green eyes that had drawn him into it. Ever since that incident in the library James had desired the girl he held in his arms, but dared not say it or act out. But now everything seemed different and James didn't care. He held onto the gorgeous girl in his arms and he never wanted to let go, ever. She was his, and he was hers. That was just he way things were and James didn't want to fight it. He eventually lost all thought of the broom he was holding and dropped it to the ground with a thud. James didn't care. Slowly James pushed Lily to the ground and the pair soon found themselves on their back, or at least Lily did. But she didn't seem to mind; Lily had a mischievous grin on her face and took James' mouth for herself. Within seconds their tongues were performing dances inside the other's mouth. He heard Lily moan as his hands began to explore the uncharted territory of her chest.

As he slipping his fingers inside her shirt it felt as if he were touching winter cream, her skin was that soft. James had always imagined that her skin would feel that soft. His hand slipped further and further down until he reached the valley of Lily's full breaths. But just feeling them didn't seem to satisfy him enough and James soon maneuvered the shirt off of Lily, exposing her magnificent body. Of course her bra was still on but Lily helped remedy that as she undid the clip in the back and the white fabric fell to the ground. James soon began a trail of hot kisses down her neck which caused Lily to rock her head back in forth in pleasure. At the same time James took it upon himself to play with her nipples, and toy with her senses. The feeling was wonderful to both James and Lily. Once reaching her breasts James sucked on the right nipple which was hard. Lily moaned his name, "James" and in her own way pressed him further. With his left hand James was massaging and caressing her other breast until his mouth finished with her right one and went over to her left.

But Lily did get her fair share in too. While James was playing with her supple breasts, Lily had managed to get his shirt off, which was currently piled with her bra. He had a magnificent chest; each muscle was toned just right and his skin soft. Lily embraced it as James began to move from her breasts to southern territories. Their mouths were soon entangled in the same tongue wars but James' wandering hands made their way down to her jeans and played with the button and zipper to get them lose. With that done he slowly slipped them off and his fingers slithered their way into her. Lily gasped and moaned his name even louder as he stuck a digit in. James was obviously enjoying the reaction he got out of Lily for he expanded his exploration. "James," she murmured.

XIX (END FLASHBACK. Aren't you all glad that I upped the rating to R. You all can look now. I never really indented it to be that graphic, but hey. And to think, you all thought that Narya was going to give you all a juicy lemon. Sorry, you aren't going to get anything along those lines out of me. This is as far as I go when it comes to my writing).

Lily was silent for a good majority of the way to Hogwarts. Dorcas and Anthy soon began a "remember when" conversation. Lily had been in so many of those she just decided to think things through, in terms of how she felt about James. She honestly never expected things to go so far, but then again she never expected to fall in love with James Potter, leader of the Marauders. Lily knew that Dorcas and Anthy figured out that she and James had feelings for each other, but they pair just didn't want to come out and say it. Lily was grateful for that. No doubt Amberle had come to the same conclusion. Even Americans were smart when it came to matters of the heart. But it didn't matter.

As the Hogwarts Express moved further and further North the day soon became night and Hogsmead village was soon in sight. Lily was glad when they would reach the castle and everything would return to normal, and she could get her mind back on lessons and not how she felt about James. After all, love for a person wouldn't get them a good job to pay the bills, or at least that is how Lily's mind worked. Even the distraction of Bellatrix Black and her group would be enough for Lily to get her mind off of James. Lily had a sneaking suspicion that James was feeling the same way because he had not approached her since. That in itself was unusual for James. Lily figured that because of her current feelings and the wanting to be alone transferred to James as well. Or at least so she thought. She could always be wrong. Even the school genius had failed an exam, which for Lily happened to be a Transfiguration Exam. Luckily for her Professor McGonagall offered a re-take.

VIV

Two compartments back Lily's suspicion was right for James too was silent a good most of the way to Hogwarts. It was obvious to the eye, or at least to Remus, Sirius and Peter that James had officially fallen for the tiger-lily. All three knew that their best friend was having trouble dealing with his feelings, but unless James brought it up himself, he did not want to talk about it, even to his best friends. Peter, being the dip shit that he was (A/N: sorry, I hate Peter) was dumb enough to bring it up as they were walking towards the carriages that would take them up to Hogwarts but all he got in response was, "Wormtail, shut up". Sirius and Remus were starting to become concerned about their friend; it was not like him to just lash out at someone, with the exception of Snape.

James didn't know what was wrong with his head. All it had taken for him to lose control was the look in Lily's eyes that night. Luckily James had stopped everything before things went any further but later he was furious with himself for losing all control like that. How could he lose control like some sex-deprived boy? What if things had gone further and Lily had ended up pregnant or worse? The thought of how many things that could have gone bad scared him, and James was never scared. How could caring so much about one girl scar the infamous ring-leader of the Marauders? Nothing made sense anymore, and James just hoped that with the return of school he would get his mind back on normal things, like homework and cursing Snape or what the four friends planned to do the next full moon.

After dinner had ended everyone went back up to their dorms but James chose to stay in the Common Room for a while. He saw Lily going back up the steps with her friends and gave his flower a slight smile, to which she returned. When everyone was gone James sat on his favorite chair next to the fire and just sat there and thought about his feelings for Lily. Half and hour later James heard footsteps coming from the boy's dormitory stairs and looked up to see none-other than Sirius. His best friend took a seat next to James and asked straight out, "James what's wrong? You have been acting really weird, not talking on the train and then lashing out at Peter. We are all worried about you," Sirius said with a concerned look on his face.

James sighed and gave up faking that everything was alright. He knew that lying to Sirius was impossible. Besides maybe talking things out was just better and it would help him. "It's kind of a long story," James said truthfully.

"I could have guessed. I take it this long story of yours has a lot to do with our Miss Evans," Sirius said.

"You got it Padfoot," James replied.

"We all know that you are crazy about her, Prongs. It is obvious in the way you look at her or talk to her. But I feel that the biggest question is how did it all get that way?" Sirius inquired.

"It seemed all so fast, I am not even sure how it all happened. I mean, you all know how I felt and I like and idiot, made that especially clear that day in our fifth year. But my feelings have become much stronger. Ever since this year I don't know what has happened. I guess I realized how much she meant to me when that bastard son-of-a-bitch, Lestrange, attacked her on the way to detention. And then I realized it even more when she went out with me in Hogsmead," James went on.

"James, that is obvious to us. We all know that part of the story. You have been acting different ever since you two left my house. What happened?'

"Well as we were flying back she stopped me and said that she wanted to watch the sunset. And well...things sort of progressed from there. I stopped it before things went too far but somehow that doesn't feel like I did enough..." James trailed on.

"Man, you got it bad," Sirius said.

"Got what bad," James asked in puzzlement.

"Oh come on, you love her. I know it as well as you do, and so dose Remus and Peter. We all know it. I wouldn't be surprised if most the school knows it. I say most because those asses in Slytherin are so dense they wouldn't know it if they saw you two snogging right in front of the library," Sirius said as if was the most obvious matter in the world. "I know that she cares about you too. Her friend Amberle has told me that Lily cares for you. And really, if you think of her personality you know that she had to feel pretty damned strong about you if she allowed you to touch her in that way," Sirius finished.

James knew that Sirius had hit the nail right on the head, but didn't say anything. His friend realized that and went on, "You just have to give things time. By this time next week everything will have blown over and you two will be a pair of happy love-birds again," Sirius said. As if that was all he had to say on the mater, Sirius yawned and went back up to his dorm. James chose to stay in the Common Room for a while longer and let himself absorb what his best friend had just said.

"Sirius is right. All we need is time," he said to himself. Then James found himself yawning and went back up to his dormitory where a four-poster bed with crimson sheets was calling his name.

XVIVX

END CHAPTER. Well how was that for ya? I rather like it. I must be going because I have a futon bed with Japanese sheets calling my name cause I am tired.

You all know the drill, I love reviews. More reviewsmore chapters.

All flames will be read, laughed at and deleted.

FYI, right now I have posted the first chapter of another fanfiction called A Tale of Ages. It is a Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon fic. And yes now I am going to be juggling both fictions back and forth but this one will have the top priority because of how long I have been working on it. I WILL FINISH THIS. If you want to read it go ahead, I would be happy if you did and left me a review. Lol. For more information on my progress on both stories check out my Live-Journal account. The link can be found under my homepage in my profile


	15. Saved and stomped by a stag

Welcome back for Chapter 14. I think as most of you know, I know have two fan fics. My other one is a Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon fic called A Tale of Ages, a Serenity/Endymion fic, based on the original manga story. For all of you who are pissed at me for starting another story, get the crap over it. Because I have been working on this one for a much much longer time period, this story will ALAWAYS get the first priority until finished. Technically I am hoping to split my story up into two parts, the first being at Hogwarts and the second being after Hogwarts. I already have all of the first part planned out on paper. All of it. I know exactly where my fic is going. Let's just say that that a majority of the people will want to dismember me after I write the official ending of the first part. But of course, it will all pick right back up in the second part.

I think I have figured out something pretty big for book 6, Half-Blood Prince. For a full description see my Live-Journal account, CrimsonPheonix. I don't want to post it with my fanfic because this is a place for my fanfic, not my theories on book6/7. Actually if I wrote down all my theories they would fill the pages of six Order of the Pheonix's. Lol.

Disclaimer: I don't own nuttin' All is property of J.K. Rowling. I am too tired to come up with a witty remark. Get over it.

With THAT out of the way, on with the fic....

XVIVX

School had been officially resumed for three weeks. Everyone was, of course, bumming that their Christmas Vacation was over, and even the teachers seemed in a slightly fowl mood. But that was to be expected, if someone had to spend every moment of everyday with a bunch of hormonal teenagers they would feel the same way too with time. Or at least that was how Lily saw things. Homework on the 7th years was at an all-time maximum with their N.E.W.T exams just a few months away. Amberle was feeling the stress worse than anyone else. The school curriculum between America and Britain was so different and they covered such different spells and other materials at different years, she had to catch up on some spells that America did not deem "fitting for the average school curriculum". At one point Amberle had a complete mental break down to which she had to take a calming potion from the school nurse. Even with the potion, she got very little sleep that night and did not attend classes the next day. No one blamed her either. Lily often felt like throwing in the towel with all the school work they were assigned, she had no idea who Amberle was getting through it all and still had energy to burn. The only person in Hogwarts who was having a harder time than Amberle was Peter Pettigrew. So idiotic in the ways of advanced, or even some basic magic, he seemed to be failing in all of his classes and had almost no time to even sleep just trying to get through all his homework. Eventually Remus or James had to help him out and let Peter to copy their worksheets, or do some extra tutoring. Sirius couldn't help Peter because he was up to his face in "family problems" to go along with his extra work. Everyday he was bombarded with Howlers of all sorts coming from, what seemed, every member of his family. Sirius began to work alone because of the threats made in the Howlers, such as "you and your mudblood friends better watch your back for a stray Death Eater may be on their way," and other such material. Knowing his family beliefs and the fact that several of the Blacks were indeed Death Eaters, many of the threats were taken with caution. Tonks was also having her fair share of problems regarding the same matters. Except for her it was worse because the other first years would distance themselves from her, not understanding her family position. At least Sirius had James, Remus, Peter as well as Lily and her friends.

Of course it wasn't as if Lily was sitting in a bed of roses herself. The subject of N.E.W.T. Transfiguration was giving her such a hard time that Lily often found herself wanting to throw in the towel and give it all up. If it were not for James and his ability to excel in Transfiguration Lily wouldn't have any clue what-so-ever of how she was going to pass her exam. But Lily more than made up for it because she excelled in an area that James was weak at; Charms. He would often come to Lily for advice with his Charms work. Lily was glad to give back to James after him helping her so much. It was the least she could do to give back. Potions was the subject that was giving Dorcas and Anthy a good run for their money. Neither was particularly good at potions and the exams that Professor Lantis gave out were literally murder on paper. They had to study just as much as Lily was for Transfiguration and James for Charms. Remus was the only person who seemed to be fairing better than the others in terms of his studies. But he was always willing to lend a helping hand.

However in terms of his health Remus was appearing more and more pale as time passed. He began to have slight mood swings and become somewhat more irritable. James, Sirius and Peter acted as though it was normal and seemed to be on edge themselves. Lily knew that Remus was a werewolf. She had known it since her third year, but he had always been a good fellow so she didn't really care and kept his secret safe. But what Lily didn't know was about to be revealed on the eve of the full moon on a chilly January night. She was heading up the stairs for a few hours of sleep before the strenuous routine of school resumed the next day. She had been up all night cramming for a big exam the next day. Lily had large baggy circles under her eyes and was eager for sleep. When she made it up the stairs and into her dormitory she found that Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle had yet to fall asleep and were all situated on their beds with heavy textbooks spread across their laps. "Yo, Lily," Amberle greeted.

"Hey. Now this is a rare site, the three of you up past midnight to study," Lily remarked with a laugh and a yawn.

"I would give anything to wring Lantis' neck for giving us such pain-in-the-ass exams," Dorcas said.

"The feeling is mutual," Anthy replied. "But we shouldn't complain because I would say that Lily has it worse off than any of us because she is in N.E.W.T Potions".

"No kidding. How do you get through that hour and half a day hell hole?" Dorcas said.

"Patience. Relaxation. Herbs," Lily joked as she took a seat on her bed. She shoved a heavy textbook onto the floor, not caring that it damaged several of the pages. At that point, she didn't care if she failed all her subjects, only that she wanted to get some sleep. Fifteen minutes later all the lights had been extinguished but despite her fatigue, Lily could not bring herself to fall asleep. She felt as if she was on alert and something was not right. Two hours later and at two in the morning she still could not shake the feeling of unease. Convinced that she wouldn't be able to sleep anytime soon, Lily eventually rose from her bed and went outside to catch some evening air. She knew it would be cold, but that was the point, maybe the cold air could help her sleep. Besides, it couldn't hurt to try. (A/N: or could it?)

VIV (two hours previous)

The Marauders were beginning to become on edge. Remus was well due for his transformation but they had not heard his "signature howl" that he made every time he transformed. If something went wrong...no, they had worked too hard to comfort Remus in his time of need for anything to go wrong. Who would be fool enough to be outside, past midnight and on a full-moon no less? Of course Hagrid might be brave enough to do so, but he wasn't stupid enough to pull such a stupid stunt. Besides, he knew that Remus was a werewolf and took extra care to tie Fang up inside on full moons. James looked around at the anxious looks on his friend's faces, Sirius was pale and Peter looked like he would positively sick. Another ten more minutes went by with nothing and the Marauders finally ran clear out of patience. James went for his invisibility cloak while Sirius took out the Marauder's Map. All three of them managed to squeeze under the cloak and Sirius muttered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good".

Like a spider's web, lines of ink spread out in all directions eventually forming an exact replica of Hogwarts. The three surveyed it to make sure that they would have no "interruptions". Dumbledore was safe asleep in his office, as was Lantis. The ancient care-taker, Ogg, was busy cleaning the Trophy Room, due to an accident that James "accidentally caused". James' eyes made a quick dart to the dot "Lily Evans". The map showed her in her dormitory along with Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle. Out of the corner of his eye, James could see Sirius' face dart up at the dot "Amberle Adams" but tried to hide it as soon as he knew James had noticed. James smirked. Only the infamous Sirius would fall for the American "yank" transfer student. In all actuality James knew that he fancied her from the moment they saw her in Hogsmead and as the year went on his suspicions became all but confirmed. She was the single individual in 7th year Gryffindor that had not fallen victim to the Marauders' pranks. That was saying enough just as it was. But there were other sings as well; James caught the pair in a so called 'study group' which looked more to him like a snog session, or maybe it was just the angle from which he was entering the library. But the best thing to do was to just leave it as it is and not peruse the subject; James had learned that from experience.

Within three minutes the trio was safely outside on the Hogwarts Grounds. As if on cue, Remus' howl could be heard piercing the night sky like a gun. Judging by the magnitude of the howl he seemed to be close. The three friends separated and transformed into their Animagi forms. James could soon feel his bones melting and twisting into a new form. With the growth of a longer spine James crouched down as his legs and arms became longer and sprouted chestnut colored hair. He could feel slender antlers sprouting from the top of his head and a small stub of a tail protruding from his back end. Hooves soon replaced his shoes and socks, and James' glasses fell onto the grass with a soft thump. In his form as a stag James had perfect vision. He felt so free. Like nothing and no one would be able to stop him, as well as a sense of daring knowing he broke the highest Statue to the Animagi laws known to the Ministry of Magic. A sense of guilt would sometimes befall him with the feeling of betraying Dumbledore but that was always soon blown away with the wind as he would run with his friends, free as the night. With the transformation complete James walked over to a large boar-like dog. The dog gave his best version of a grin and a small squeak indicated Wormtail on Padfoot's muzzle. They then turned towards a dark silhouette against the moon. Moony was there howling; asking for a call of kin. The three approached Moony at a run, or in James' case, gallop.

At their approached Moony jumped back and began to rear his deadly fangs. But within the next second it was as if a flash of Remus' heart became present and the werewolf reared forward in a display of mock aggression and began running around the dog and stag with a mischievous glare in his yellow swirling eyes. Padfoot was the first one to lunge playfully at Moony. The pair was soon embodied in a fight of false and playful aggression. Prongs too entered the wrestling contest. Wormtail, being the weary one, jumped off Sirius' muzzle in time to avoid the curse of the werewolf's jaws. But none blamed Peter, because of his small size there would be little chance of safety within the brawl of wolf, dog and stag. In a way James felt that his stag form freed him of his human limitations. Sure it had taken three years to get the hang of, but James loved it when he was in his stag form. Sirius took could relate the feeling, it was as if nothing could ever confine them.

While in the middle of their romp Moony eventually stopped cold in his tracks. Prongs and Padfoot stood wondering what would make him stop smack dab in the middle of his tracks. Moony seemed to be sniffing the air, and then without warning he let out a mighty howl to the full moon. James and Sirius stood momentarily in horror; they knew what that howl meant, blood. Remus must have smelled human flesh for there would be no further explanation. As the werewolf took off in the direction of the lake James galloped as fast as his hooves could carry him. It had to be a student. All of the teachers knew of Remus' condition, and none would be dumb enough to step out on a full moon. To James' knowledge none knew of Remus' curse and he had to keep it that way. Sirius did his best to distract the wolf and James eventually got the lead and speed off to find the individual that gave off the scent of fresh and young blood. As James was moving closer and close he could too pick up on the smell. A slight itch to his left ear told James that Peter was on his head. The tiny mouse whispered in the stag's ear, "James ahead!" The stag's superior eyesight soon caught on to the human being that was sitting on the lake's shore. It was Lily!

No, she couldn't know. Why did it always have to be Lily? She soon heard the galloping animal coming across the grounds and turned her head to see. Lily couldn't believe her eyes that a magnificent deer was standing right in front of her eyes. But as its rate of speed did not slow she quickly got to her feet and tried her best to doge the on-coming animal. To her surprise the animal halted and a little rat jumped off of the stag's head. Lily stood in confusion; it was as if the stag knew exactly what it was doing. But another ear piercing cry shook the night as Moony and Padfoot fighting with each other could be seen clearly in the distance. Her eyes opened in fear as she turned her head and saw the full moon shining bright against the sky. James, obviously understanding that Lily knew the danger she was in, proceeded to heard her to safety. Lily dashed to the castle as fast as her legs could carry her without needing the hint from James. A loud shriek from Padfoot and Prongs looked back to see his best friend with a large wound across his muzzle. James stood in horror, and glanced at Lily who obviously realized what was going on. James, finally losing all his patience, shouted at Lily at the top of his lungs "LILY, RUN. GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE".

The red-headed girl stood in shock for a moment but the stag reared his front legs and shouted again, "GO". Getting the clue Lily dashed inside. Out of harms way Prongs proceeded to help out Padfoot who was still in a helpless struggle against the werewolf. James lost it again and butted his best friend with his large antlers. The werewolf cried out in pain and took off in the opposite direction of the forest. Wormtail could be seen against the dark sheen of Padfoot's coat and the three resumed their original form. Inside Lily was inside, and in shock. Her eyes were as round as disks and barely acknowledge the presence of James, Sirius and Peter until James shouted, "What the hell were you thinking?"

In that moment Lily snapped out of her initial shock, "What do you mean 'what the hell was I doing? I should be asking you that question. Do you do that every time Remus becomes a werewolf?" she shouted back.

"You knew what he was!?" James hollered back at the top of his lungs. "How long?"

"Since my second year. I figured it out then," Lily responded. "What the fuck difference dose it make if I knew or not? I never said anything to anyone," she said, letting her temper rise again.

"If you knew than what possessed you to go outside?" Sirius eventually said. He was more calm then James, but still pretty pissed as it was.

"I DON"T CARE that he is a werewolf. I don't check lunar charts every month the see if he is going to transform. I went outside because I couldn't fall asleep," she yelled back. "You still haven't answered my question, do you do that every time he transforms?"

The three Marauders all glared at Lily. James was feeling an impulse to slap some common sense into her, but he didn't. How could she be so stupid even if she did know? "Since when?" she asked.

"Fifth year," James answered truthfully. "Don't go on one of your Miss Perfect rampages and rat to McGonagall. If you do I swear I will..." James trailed.

"You'll what, you bastard? If I was going to "rat" you asses out I would have done it years ago when I first saw a stag, dog and rat with Remus. I saw you guys last year outside. I knew that the wolf was Remus, but I guess I should have smacked myself for not realizing that only the three ignoramuses known as the Marauders would even ATTEMPT to pull a stunt like that," Lily said. What was saying was nothing but the truth. James looked as if he had been smacked in the face; Sirius and Peter were paler than the moon outside.

"What do you think Moony will think when he finds out tomorrow that not only do you know his secret, but he tried to kill you?" James shouted, as he began to resume their shouting match. It was Lily's turn to be silent. "You know he will blame himself when it is really your fault for pulling such a stupid stunt..." but he was cut off at the sound of a teacher's footsteps. He quickly pulled out his Invisibility cloak and hid himself along with Sirius and Peter. At that point, he didn't care of Lily was caught. James almost regretted what he thought the moment the frame of Professor Lantis came into view. Lily was right in the middle of the entrance to Hogwarts, shouting at, what seemed to be, herself.

"Miss Evans! Of all the people to abuse their prefect ability I should think that you would be the last one to do so. Well, it looks as if a visit to the headmaster's office will be in order," he smirked. Lily threw the most loathing glance at the three boys under the cloak, 'she even knew about the cloak' James thought to himself. Lily soon adverted her vision to the ground and followed Professor Lantis up the stairs to Dumbledore's office. A tidal wave of guilt washed over him. She knew about almost everything and never said a word. James wanted to kick himself in the ass. She did nothing wrong. How could he get so mad? Now she would take the heat for what happened when it wasn't her fault. He glanced over at Sirius who gave him a 'sorry mate' look. Peter did nothing he just looked at James, his face expressionless.

XIX

The next morning everyone awoke early except for Lily. She had been up all night in Dumbledore's office. And once she got back she spent the rest of the evening absorbing her fight with James and concluding he was nothing but a good-for-nothing-lying-toerag. The time when she finally fell asleep was around 5:00 in the morning. Lily felt worse than she ever felt in the past seven years. It like everything was beginning to fall apart one by one. First her sister, then James returned to being an ass ('only after he got a nice shag out of me,' Lily admitted one night), her reputation with all the teachers was on the line because it was now public, or with the teachers anyway, that she knew about Remus. Up in Dumbledore's office, she spent most of the time explaining to the headmaster everything she found out about the Marauders. The headmaster did seem somewhat amused that Lily had figured out Remus' secret so quick, but his expression changed to nothing as she told him what she found out about James, Sirius and Peter. Dumbledore looked as if he had expected something like that to happen, but Lily couldn't be sure. One could never be sure with Dumbledore; he was so intense and wise. She knew that Dumbledore would keep their conversation in the strictest of confidence, but she still felt guilty.

Lily wanted to kick herself in the arse for believe that James' feelings were sincere, 'that bastard only wanted to get my body' she sobbed one night. She felt so used and, almost, violated, that she let him so close. 'Once an ass, always an ass,' she reminded herself that same night. Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle too noticed that Lily had started referring to James as "Potter" and "that damn bastard". Everything was just so screwed up.

Two weeks later in the library Lily was sitting at a table, studying for her next Defense against the Dark Arts class for Professor Flynn. Studying was the only way that she felt like she could totally escape the problems of reality. Cramming yourself in a book was always the best way to escape; she had used it before when Petunia first began acting like her sister had the plague and it worked very well. Everything was blotted out save the feeling of empty words. But only this time the only empty word that coursed through Lily's mind was "James". Lily cursed herself for being so weak. She felt so weak that a player could control her heart so much, it was terrible. Dorcas and Anthy could clearly see that in their friend, but it seemed that Amberle knew exactly how Lily felt and asked if she wanted to take a walk with Lily. "Yes," she responded.

A small layer of sheer frost still remained on the frozen ground but the weather was beautiful. A light winter breeze blew and everything felt like complete and utter bliss. Amberle was chewing on a piece of toast while Lily just strolled on down the path with her eyes downcast. "Lily, what happened with you and Potter?" Amberle questioned.

"Let's just say that he proved himself to be a complete and utter bastard," Lily spat out horribly.

"They always seem to be bastards when you love them," Amberle said softly.

"L...love? How did you know that?" Lily stammered. She never shared her feelings with anyone. Dorcas and Anthy clearly knew that she liked James, but surely she hadn't let on enough that she loved him.

"It is obvious when you look at him or utter his name. Besides, when you have been through the same situation you know how it feels," Amberle answered.

"What do you mean?" Lily questioned. Amberle seemed too independent and focused her ambitions to take the time to even consider caring about someone of the opposite sex. Or at least that was how she seemed. She had cursed at least five different boys who had attempted to ask her out in the few months she had been at Hogwarts.

"Before I moved here I cared deeply about one of my friends. I didn't know the true depth of my feelings until I left him and moved here and I realized I cared about him much more than I would dare to admit even to myself. I don't know if it was love that I was feeling but I do know how much I cared. We still keep in contact, but by owls only. It is tough," Amberle said. She paused for a moment, laughed and then continued, "When I first met him it was exactly how you felt about James. I thought he was nothing but an S.O.B. but as time went by we became friends. I never realized how much I cared till I moved away, or how much of a good person he was until he sent me a letter asking how I was doing. But he is my best friend and I miss him more than anything, the Quidditch, my old friends, Quodpot, or even my old home North Carolina," she finished. A light sparkle of liquid was visible in her eyes, but she swallowed it back.

"Amberle..." Lily said. She had no clue; absolutely no clue at all. Amberle seemed that it just wasn't in her nature to care for someone that much. Often the fire spirited American acted like guys were the scum of the Earth and didn't deserve to live at all. Lily marveled at how much she hid it under her rough exterior.

"You should talk to him. It is possible you two just had an over-proportioned misunderstanding. Don't make the same mistake I did about hiding how I felt," Amberle finished. She finally gulped down the last piece of toast in her mouth and then took off. Lily looked down at her watch and nearly panicked, no matter Amberle took off, they had only three minutes to get to class!

XVIVX

END CHAPTER. So waddya think? I somewhat like it. I think I made the whole full-moon scene too sort, but it was a right pain in the arse to write. I hope I made up for my previous insults about Amberle being American. So many people were bitching at me about that, saying that Americans were not like that at all. I know they aren't, I am American. But that is how many many British people view Americans, and of course everyone in this is British, except for Amberle of course. So I hope that makes up for what I said earlier.

I just finished watching the 1979 version of Dracula, and hooly ballz did it SUCK!!!!! It follows absolutely NO aspect of the book. It was TERRIBLE. I am a HUGE fan of Dracula. I love that book by Bram Stoker and the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula, the ONLY movie that followed the book plot. Dracula rules so much because it touches on a lot of human aspects that many others tend to look over. In the 1979 version I nearly stopped watching it when they had Mina die and not Lucy. COME ONE FOLKS, Lucy dies from Dracula's bite not Mina. Darn...it is just infuriating. Grrr...it is enough to piss anyone off.

I have another story that I might or might now put on the internet. It is an original works, based on a story that I have jumbled around in my head for a long time. It is in a mid-evil fantasy setting with Elves and Dwarves and Warlocks, and other such things. It is rather dark and complex. Right now I am VERY iffy about putting it on the internet because of all the literary thieves. One of my favorite online writers, Adele Sesslar, had a very bad problem with someone stealing her works online. I don't want to put up with that sort of crap, because I DO NOT want it stolen. I have put in countless hours thinking and coming up with original characters and plots. On the other hand I do want some other input from people other than my family. Whenever I have someone read something I wrote that is in my family all they EVER say is "wow that is so good" but they don't tell me what I need to improve on and other such issues. My English teachers won't do that either because they are so swamped with school work that they won't read it. So I am just curious as to weather or not I should post it online. I don't want it stolen but I also want other people's input that won't be "that is so good". Any advice?

More reviewsthe quicker the next chapter will come out. All flames will be read, laughed at and deleted. Or if they are funny enough I will post them in my live-journal to make fun of.


	16. Valentine's Day and A New Plan

YES, THE INSANE ONE HAS RETURNED WITH EVEN MORE TORTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MUAHAHAHAH! I is loving to do that so much. I don't know why, but I love to do that. Well their break-up is not what anyone expected was it, or Amberle's confession? Good. I like thinking out the box. My computer had officially decided that it wants to annoy the piss outta me. It completely froze up the other day, losing the entire chapter 15 that I had already almost finished with, so I had to re-write it again. POC (or my version of piece-o-crap).

For those who don't know, I officially posted my original story on . It is called The Warlock's Legacy. I know crappy title at first but it actually has quite a bit to do with the main plot. If anyone wants to read it I will be glad to hear responses on what da people think. The Warlock's Legacy is by Vilya of the wind. Narya of the fire was already taken, so I did Vilya. My original story will not be updated as much as this one because I have major plans for The Warlock's Legacy and I am making the chapters almost double of what this one is. And if you are wondering why I chose Vilya for my name and Nenya here is why: Nenya is so over-done just because Galadriel uses the ring of water so I wanted to give Vilya a shot at glory. Besides I like Elrond who wields Vilya. And for the record if any of you have no clue as to what I am talking about, because one of my friends looked at me like I was crazy when we brought up The Lord of the Rings and I mentioned Narya, Nenya and Vilya. Narya, Nenya and Vilya are the three Elven Rings of Power. Narya is the ring of Fire, Nenya the ring of Water and Vilya the Ring of Wind. They are wielded by Gandalf (Narya), Elrond (Vilya) and Galadriel (Nenya).

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Go kiss an Orc ass if you have any inclination of wanting to sue me. It is all property of J.K. Rowling.

Author's Note: Well this really isn't anything important, but I had to put it here anyway. For those of you wondering why I chose to make Lily a lot closer to Amberle than to Dorcas (who is a real character from Harry Potter, see Order of the Pheonix but I think I have already explained this), who is the say that Amberle will last much longer (coughforshadowingcough) and the same thing with Anthy, but I think that a majority of folks have figured out Anthy by now. Oh yeah, and our favorite couple won't stay broken up for too much longer. And lastly, it is true that James did save Snape's life but according to book 3, Prisoner of Azkaban, that whole incident happened in their 6th year. Read it for yourselves.

And now on with the show…

VXIXV

For the first time in almost two weeks Lily was perfectly happy and wasn't thinking about James. Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle were ecstatic that Lily was finally beginning forget about that ass, as they put it. But of course if it had not been for the fact that Lily's 17th birthday was to arrive in two weeks time she would still be moping around the school. Even the teachers seemed to notice an improvement in her personality since the entire school had found out about the break up. Lily acted as though it was raining galleons despite losing the hottest and most sought out after guy in Hogwarts. Of course that made Lily liked even more by the entire female population of the school because that meant that James was free for the taking. She had been confronted by several girls asking how she managed to snag James in the first place but Lily simply said nothing and walked off. Nearly two and a half months had passes since Lily and James' mysterious fight and the weather was beginning to lighten up from the chilly December and January frost. Lily's birthday fell on February 28th, right when winter would just begin to fade away and the first sprouts of spring shot through the hardened earth.

For Valentine's Day Lily received dozens of love letters from over-hormonal guys in all four houses. Of course she read them with good spirits and took delight in practicing her vanishing spell homework for Professor McGonagall by vanishing all of their letters. Anthy most like scarred away any and all possible guys with her gothic demeanor, but she still manage to scrape a few valentines. One blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy from Hufflepuff asked out Dorcas for the Valentine's Day Hogsmead visit. In complete contrast to her character, Dorcas accepted and for once wasn't seen glomping the Quidditch supplies that the small village provided. Amberle was particularly grim but she thoroughly enjoyed the honking dandelions she received from Sirius Black. Her mood was lifted significantly after that and enjoyed a nice round of Wizard Chess with Sirius to which she sorely lost.

Lily soon found herself somewhat lonely half-way through Valentine's Day. She had run out of letters to Vanish and all of her friends, save Anthy, were occupied. However Lily figured that she shouldn't waste a perfectly good day and went down to Hogsmead with Anthy. It was good to get in some nice quiet time with her silent friend. Anthy always seemed to know the right answer for everything in her modest ways. By the end of Valentine's Day, Lily was very happy with her significantly lighter money bag and lap-full of gadgets from Hogsmead. Time passed quickly for Lily and she was glad to see it go by smoothly, without a single thought of James, save for that one moment when she saw him with a freckle-faced Ravenclaw girl. But that moment carried more emotion that what she had felt in almost a week. While alone in her dormitory she silently thought "bastard". A few hours, and tears later, Lily tried to convince herself that maybe the girl he was with was just one of his many followers.

James also didn't fair so well on Valentine's Day. His fight with Lily left him moody for several weeks and even after he claimed he got over it James found himself unconsciously thinking about it. Remus did his best to comfort James, saying that Lily was not the sort of person to tell his secret, especially since she had already figured it out. James agreed with Remus just to get him to stop talking about Lily. Although he wouldn't admit it to anyone, even himself, he missed her. Yet his pride would not allow him to apologize. When he saw the flocks of boys approach Lily with invitations for dates his stomach rolled with jealousy. It infuriated him even more that Lily declined each and every one; it was as if she was playing with him! It was as if Lily knew his every emotion and was playing with them, like clay to be molded. But James knew that wasn't true, it wasn't in her nature to do that. She was too pure-hearted to play with his feelings like that. However the herd of girls approaching him at every beck and turn was enough to infuriate him. No matter how many times he told them no they would still come back for more and ask again. Were all girls this dense? 'No' he told himself, Lily wasn't like that. Peter suggested that all of his thinking of Lily is what was getting him down. He just needed a change. James agreed Peter; maybe he did need a change. When heading out for Hogsmead a girl with tan skin, freckles, hazel eyes and chestnut hair asked him out and James accepted. She was pretty enough and seemed quite cheerful so James accepted the offer. The two chatted the whole way to Hogsmead and James eventually found out that her name was Ariana Alveraz.

While walking through Hogsmead James eventually spotted Lily with Anthy. Her other two friends, Dorcas and Amberle, were clearly not with her. 'No wonder Padfoot wanted to stay behind,' James thought in his head, knowing Sirius' liking towards the American. James quickly glanced around to see where Ariana was; she was engaged in a conversation with another girl who seemed to be one of her friends. Lily looked like she was in a deep conversation with Anthy. He momentarily marveled at her eyes, but then reminded himself that she was the one why systematically called him a bastard. When Lily casually glanced up and saw James with Ariana James could tell that she was less than okay with the situation. Her green eyes sparked with an emotion that James had never seen before in Lily, but she quickly regained composer and went along with her conversation with Anthy. After that James was filled with a combination of accomplishment and feeling like an utter ass.

VIV

The next day James was still hanging around Ariana. He didn't know what he wanted to accomplish by acting as if she was his girlfriend, but the idea of a new girlfriend gave him some support. Sirius was clueless as to why James just all the sudden chose to find another girl when it was so obvious to anyone that he still felt significant feelings towards Lily, but they both had enough sense not to ask. Ariana on the other hand seemed pleased with herself for snatching the famous James Potter but she did seem to genuinely like James. Sirius took it upon himself to question Peter as to why he would say such a stupid thing, but Peter didn't have much to say on the matter.

Once again the rumors went flying around the school saying that James had gotten a new girlfriend. It took only a matter of hours for the news to reach Lily and her friends. Outwardly Lily seemed to take the conformation of what she saw in Hogsmead rather well, "It was only a matter of time before he found someone else to snog," she said practically to Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle one night. However that evening Lily went to bed early and came down the next morning with tear stains on her checks. Dorcas went up to go comfort Lily but nothing seemed to help. "Hey, don't worry Lils. He is nothing but an idiotic, pig-headed, son-of-a-harpy," Dorcas said. But that didn't seem to help because all it did was cause Lily to get even more upset and yell at Dorcas to go away. The following morning both friends were back on perfect speaking terms and the subject of James was avidly avoided.

Later on that day Lily decided to go down to the library and study for a few hours. The next day she had a Potions exam that was worth 15 percent of their final grade, and Potions was the class she was having the hardest time in. When she got to the library Lily rejoiced to find that it was nearly empty only a couple of other students were there, all of them seemed more focused on their books than anything else. She took her usual corner in the back part of the library where she would be secluded away from prying eyes. Within ten minutes Lily found at least half a dozen heavy books to stack upon the feeble wooden table she was using and began studying for her Potions exam.

Two hours later Lily had finished three of the six books that were on her table and she decided to put them back. As she returned to her seat Lily found another girl sitting on the opposite side of the table. The girl looked around and spoke up, "I hope you don't mind my using this table," she said sweetly. It was Ariana! A lump of jealousy rose in Lily's throat but she managed, with a large amount of effort, to swallow it down. Ariana seemed to have realized that she was sharing a table with James' ex-girlfriend and she said very quickly, "But if you want me to, I'll move". Lily's view of her seemed to soften a little bit, 'at least she isn't one of those rude trolls in Slytherin. She did have the decency to ask me if she could use my table'.

"Sure, it's no problem at all. But if you don't mind me asking…" Lily was cut off by Ariana.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to leave?" she asked.

"That's not what I meant. What I was about to ask you was if you could just keep quiet so I can study. Tomorrow I have a killer Potions exam," Lily said cheerfully. While examining the girl in front of her Lily noticed her slender curvaceous body, 'no wonder James would want that and not me,' she thought grimly. Ariana had the seemingly perfect body; a petite build, long legs, tan skin, blue eyes…the list went on and on in Lily's mind. A slight wave of depression washed over her but Lily snapped out of it and took to her books again. As a few more minutes passed Lily couldn't seem to concentrate like she could before. The image of James and Ariana kept popping up in her head over and over. Eventually Lily gave up and went to go put her books away when she was stopped by Ariana. "Lily wait," she said.

"Eh?" Lily responded. Why would James' girlfriend stop her, most would be more than glad for Lily to leave.

"I'm sorry," Ariana said with her eyes downcast.

"Sorry for what? You didn't do anything," Lily responded.

"Yes I did. You don't have to pretend, I know that you must hate me," Ariana said, gaining more confidence with each word.

"Why would I hate you? I have never even met you before," said Lily. What was Ariana aiming for? Her blessing? Well she wouldn't get it. Lily knew that it had to be an act.

"You still care for James and he still cares for you," Ariana blurted out. "Don't deny it. It is so obvious when you two look at each other or even utter the other's surname. Listen, if you want I will help you two get back together. He is too care-free for my liking," Ariana offered with all sincerity (a/n: and I bet you all thought I was going to make Ariana a bitch, think again XD).

Lily point black didn't believe what she was hearing and she wouldn't put up with it either. "Listen you don't have to rub it in that James is with you," Lily responded coldly. "Why don't you stop with this load of rubbish you are telling me? He is the infamous James Potter and I'm the bitchy Head Girl. I know you, and every other girl in Hogwarts I might add, went nuts when they found out that we broke up, so cut the crap," Lily said dangerously. She then laughed menacingly, "Although I should warn you, once that bastard gets a nice shag outta you, he is on to the next fish," Lily said. With that Lily stomped out of the library and back up to her dormitory.

Ariana was left at the table. She looked around to make sure that no one was watching and luckily for her everyone else in the library was still reading their books. "Well that didn't go well," Ariana said out loud. "Remus you can come out now, she's gone," Ariana said. Out of a shadow in the library, behind a rather large stack of books Remus emerged. "So much for your plan".

"Hey, it was worth a try. That guy is just too stubborn for his own good," Remus said.

"You can't blame it all on Potter alone. She is more stubborn than he is," Ariana chuckled.

"Still…damnit all. It was my once chance to set things right between them. One chance and I blew it," Remus said.

Right after the fight between Lily and James, Remus felt responsible for their fight and took it upon himself to get them back together. He had searched all throughout the school for a girl that would pretend to go out with James so that Lily would hopefully get back together with him. Remus knew that James had a pole stuck so far up his arse that he would never ever apologize first to anyone, save only his extremely strict mother. Ariana seemed willing to do the job, but as Remus later found out, she had another agenda going on. The pretty Ravenclaw girl was not the angel she looked and acted like. One of her biggest enemies had been a former girlfriend to James and when he dumped her for someone else she became bitterly jealous. The other girl took out all her frustration on Ariana, so this was her way of getting back at her. Ariana already had a boyfriend, Amos Diggory, who also played along with Remus' plan. She had no real interest in James, just to get revenge. Although what Ariana had said to Lily was no lie, James was too care-free and goofy for her tastes.

"Well with plan A out the window, I guess it is time to embark upon plan B," Remus said determinedly.

XIX

"You did WHAT?" exclaimed Sirius the next morning in the common room. Most of the students had gone down for breakfast in the Great Hall, but Remus asked if Sirius could stay behind. At first Sirius seemed somewhat reluctant to miss the most important meal of the day, but after some persuasion and the promise of lunch, Remus convinced Sirius to stay behind.

"Shhh, keep it down," Remus whispered. Sirius was his last chance to get a connection for Lily and James to get back together. It was common knowledge that Sirius had become close to Amberle, who was the connection to Lily. James was too stubborn to even conceder being the first one to apologize to Lily and the only thing that you could rely on Peter for was the direction to the nearest toilet. Remus only prayed that Sirius would go along. "Yes I know, it was a dumb idea. But come on, even you have to admit that James was more crazy about Lily than any other girl he had been with," Remus continued.

"No doubts about that. He is crazy for her than a heard of 100 hippogriffs in heat," Sirius said.

"That really wasn't the best mental image there Padfoot," Remus grinned.

"Sorry there mate. You're right, that is image is almost as scary as Snape in a thong. Although note the keyword, almost," Sirius mocked, which was true. He would rather face rampaging hippogriffs than see Snape in a thong. "So anyway, why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"Well seeing as how my first plan went up in complete smoke, I had hoped that you would be willing to help me out with my second plan," Remus said.

"Me? How could I help you out?" questioned Sirius.

"Let's just say that you have connections with Lily's friends that we don't," Remus said with a smirk.

"Oh I get it now. You want me to convince our American friend to be the middleman of sorts, or middle-woman in her case," Sirius said.

"Now if only you would put that great intellect of yours into concentrating on school work," Remus joked.

"Naww, where'd the fun be in that?" Sirius responded. "But yeah, I'm sure that Amberle would be glad to play middleman. After all, you never know what Americans are capable of. They won over the United States after all, "he joked.

"Padfoot, you really are the best friend a chap can have," Remus thanked.

"Don't mention it Moony old man. Ever, really, cause if Lily finds out…damn I can just imagine the damage she will reek," Sirius said. This again was true. James wasn't the only one who was victimized by the wrath of the flower. Sirius had had his own fair share of "Lily damages" throughout Hogwarts. He remembered especially vividly when Lily stole his broom and jinxed it to spit out fireworks and buck off the rider. But that wasn't to say that he didn't deserve it. After all if he had woken up with his cat hideously discolored to Slytherin green, Sirius imaged that he would have done the same thing to Lily's precious books.

XIX

Later on that day during lunch Sirius was glad to find that Amberle was circled with her usual company of Dorcas, Anthy and Lily. As a matter of fact Amberle was sitting alone going over some Charms notes. Every once in a while she would look up and take a bite of food but the majority of her concentration was apparently on Charms. Sirius never did like Charms that much and he often did rely on making copies of Lily's notes, un-known to Lily of course. Whenever Lily's notes just happened to be lying around Sirius would quickly make a copy of them and then pretend that he had aced the exam without even studying. "Oi, Amberle!" he called out to her. She looked up from her school work to see Sirius and closed her notes. "Hey Black, how's life been treating you?" Amberle greeted. Her spunky attitude and blunt honesty was what Sirius liked about her. She was a lot like him in the sense that formality was not suited for her.

Amberle walked over to Sirius and quickly shoved the last piece of bread into her mouth. "Listen, there is something that I need you to do for me," Sirius said.

"If you want me to shag you the answer is no," Amberle joked.

"No not really, but I wouldn't say no to the idea," Sirius grinned. He then lowered his voice and continued, "Back to what I wanted to ask you, Remus has been trying to hook James and Evans back together. His first plan went up in flames but we were wondering if you…" Sirius was cut off by Amberle.

"Let me guess, you were wondering as to whether or not I would be the middleman and slip information to and fro from both groups. Am I right, "Amberle retorted with a gleam in her eyes.

"Well, you just hit the nail on the head. But will you?" Sirius asked. "Please, James has turned into such an arse since they had their fight," he begged, giving Amberle his puppy dog eyes. The girls at the school tables all looked at Amberle with complete and utter loathing.

"Seeing as how Lily is also acting like the wicked witch of the west, I guess I'll give you a hand. And I already got the perfect start. Her birthday is next week and we were all planning a surprise party for her. Get Potter to apologize to her, or at least have him show up. That will definitely earn him some extra brownie points, "Amberle said. "And if that doesn't work, Potter is screwed because Lily is pissed off at him. Or should I say that Ariana girl," she said.

"Yeah, I would imagine so. How are you going to get Lily out of the common room so that this party can be set up?" Sirius inquired.

"No worries. Dorcas and I already have that all planned out. That weekend, all 7th years are allowed into Hogsmead for preparations and some such crap for the Graduation Ball," Amberle answered.

"Alright, sounds like you guys are at least ten steps ahead of all of us," Sirius grinned, but at the last moment he put on the most suave face and voice he could conjure, "Speaking of the Graduation Ball, this young man has no lass to accompany him. Would you do the honor," Sirius offered.

"Well, under normal circumstances in America, this would be the part where I would kick you in the groin, curse you with pink hair and call you an arse, but what the hell? I like you and you've proved that you are one of the few male members who are not ruled by their gentiles, "Amberle said. She grinned and sat back down at her seat with her Charms notes.

Sirius left lunch feeling like a million galleons and that there was some hope in James' love life after all.

XVIVX

END. And THAT my wonderful readers is chapter 15. 16 will be out A.S.A.P.

I would also like to say HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For those of you who watch the Thanksgiving Day parade, the Mayfield High School marching band is going to be in it, and they are playing La Bamba. If you happen to see them screw up on national TV, please tell me and make me a copy of that moment so that I can rub it in their face. Mayfield sucks, I hate them. Mayfield is my school's #1 rival, and they are right down the street. Last year before the big Cruces vs. Mayfield game, MHS burnt a large "M" into our practice field for the band. Well that shows that they are so dumb that they burn the band field, not the football field. Oh well. At least we beat the crap outta them at the game this year.

Sorry this one took so long to get out, I was really sick lately with a 103 fever, strep throat and an ear infection. No fun, so all I did was sit on my butt for three days at home and watch Jerry Springer because I was too sick to change the channel. Not that I wanted to anyway, Jerry Springer is funny as crap to watch. It is always so hilarious the way those people go on national TV and make complete morons out of themselves.

So anyway, see you all next time.

Happy Turkey Day

Bye bye,

Narya


	17. Happy Birthday!

And here it is chapter 16. After re-reading the last chapter I came to the conclusion that it sucked goat ballz, but sorry it couldn't be helped. A lot of crap was going on and that was why it took so long to update. Sorry about that. Hopefully this one makes up for it. I want to thank everyone for the wonderfully fantastic reviews I have been getting. No flames in almost a month, although I haven't updated in almost a month, but who cares about that? Don't worry, I won't abandon this story, I have lots and lots more in store for Lily and James.

I don't know if I have said this but I am making this story into two parts. One part is about Lily and James' life in school and the other part is their life after school. Right now there are maybe 5 chapters left in part 1, so I am really excited about 2. I may add another chapter just for more time. Also once I finish part 1, I MUST take a little break so I can catch up with life. I just thought that I might as well warn all of you about that now.

Disclaimer: I own nuttin'. Zip, zilch, nada. Not even a penny. The Weasley's have more money that I do.

With no further ado here is the next chapter.

XVIVX

Luckily for Lily her birthday fell on a Saturday, and it was on the same day that all of the 7th years were allow to leave for Hogsmead to get ready for the Graduation Ball. Lily needed a few hours away from Hogwarts and from James. She planned to spend that day with Dorcas, Amberle and Anthy; it would be a nice break away from reality. Even though it was her birthday, she had nothing special planned mainly because of her family. Petunia hated Lily's birthdays and she would make it known. Her parents on the other hand acted as if the world was coming to an end if they didn't throw their daughter a huge party. So with a combination of the two, Lily just wasn't all that much into birthdays. That morning she did receive a card and package of sweets from her mother and father for her 17th birthday.

Lily met Dorcas and Anthy by the lake on the way to Hogsmead, and they would meet up with Amberle around an hour later; apparently she had to take care of some family business. Dorcas and Anthy waited by the lake and greeted their friend ecstatically. Both had been looking forward to that particular Hogsmead visit as a way to cheer Lily up. Both said that they would get her whatever she wanted in Hogsmead as a birthday present. Little did she know what was brewing in the Gryffindor Common Room. The three friends proceeded down to Hogsmead walking and talking animatedly, "So what do you guys want to buy first?" Lily asked.

"Well, I had wanted to go see Amberle's new Quidditch supplies, but I think I can hold out for a while," Dorcas said with a slight smile. Lily knew that she was going to say that; having a friend with both Quidditch and Quodpot connections such as Amberle did was something that Dorcas would never easily over-look. Plus Amberle could get her exclusive discounts. "But seeing as how that this for that stupid graduation ball I guess that we have to go get our crap for that first. This is our last chance before the freaking thing," Dorcas said.

"I thought you weren't going," Anthy said.

"I could never miss our Head Girl's ball that she planned with all her hard work. Besides, she'd curse me into oblivion if I didn't," Dorcas replied.

"Damn straight," Lily joked. "How dose that sound to you Anthy? Get all the dance stuff out of the way before it is too late. Besides it won't be packed because every other girl in 7th year has already gotten their stuff three months ago," Lily suggested.

"Sounds fine with me," Anthy replied.

The three marched down the street to Fine Robes by Madam Sillen. It was the only place that Hogsmead had that would provide the sort of outfits needed for such an occasion. Just as the three thought, the store was practically empty save for a dark looking woman behind the counter. She had thick shiny chocolate brown hair and dark eyes. She sported teal green robes and wide array of necklaces and bracelets were draped on her body. She greeted the girls kindly, "Hello and welcome to my shop. I am Madam Sillen and how can I help you?" her voice was deep and rich and gave off the impression of an Arabian Dancer.

"Yes, we need dresses for the Graduation Ball at Hogwarts. All three of us," Lily said politely.

"Well it looks like you three got here just in time. We just restocked several hours ago and before that we were wiped clean. Come this way," Madam Sillen said. She slipped gracefully out from behind the counter and led all three to the wide selection of dresses. "Why don't we start with you," she said to Dorcas. Dorcas had a slightly shocked look on her face as she stepped forth, not expecting to be called forth so quickly. Madam Sillen gazed at Dorcas' features and the counter of her face as well as her figure. When she was done Madam Sillen began pulling at random dresses, all of them were a different color; one was cobalt blue, another pink (Dorcas cringed at the sight of it), one was even orange! Dorcas did nothing to disrupt Madam Sillen's search for the perfect dress, although Lily and Anthy snickered when she looked at the pink one. Dorcas hated the color of pink in any and all ways. At last Madam Sillen stopped a beautiful black satin dress. She picked it from the racket and held it to Dorcas. "Perfect," she exclaimed. "The shape of the dress is perfect for you and the color contrasts your pale complexion," she said. Then Madam Sillen instructed Dorcas to go try it on.

It seemed that it took Dorcas nearly twenty minutes to try on the dress. But Lily and the others were in no hurry. Besides, Dorcas had never worn anything that even compared to the formal outfit she was trying on. Lily remembered only one other time that Dorcas wore a skirt, and that was at Christmas when she meet Lily's parents. Apparently Mrs. Meadows, her mother, had threatened her daughter's life if she didn't wear the skirt. A wide variety of weird sounds and "you bastards" were being emitted from the dressing room, but the others ignored it. Soon after Amberle entered the store to join her friends, "I thought you were going to wait for me," Amberle wined.

"Sorry about that. But this is our last chance to get something for that damn graduation dance, so we wanted to hurry up and get it out of the way," Lily said.

"Oh and by the way, Happy Birthday Lily," Amberle said.

"Thanks. What can be taking Dorcas so long?" Lily asked to no one in particular.

"It sounds as if she is having a wrestling match with that dress," Anthy responded with a gleam in her eye. At that moment there was a "shit" coming from the dressing room, however Dorcas emerged looking stunning in the dress.

The dress flowed all throughout her average figure and along the back there was a criss-cross pattern, much like an old fashion corset, up to her shoulders with the delicate black fabric. Small silk hand gloves were on both of her hands and Dorcas sported small heels on her feet that also had the same criss-cross pattern up to her ankle. The dress was a round neck that didn't show off too much cleavage, but just enough to get the boy's attention. If Dorcas hadn't been wearing a scowl she would have looked like a super model. Lily was amazed that Dorcas could look so beautiful and feminine.

"Holy crap! That is perfect," Lily said.

"Ok," Dorcas responded. Not wanting to be seen like that any more, Dorcas quickly turned around and emerged less than a minute later with her regular cloths on. "This will have to do because I am not going through the hell of putting another one on," she said grumpily.

"Good, because that is perfect on you," Madam Sillen piped up. "So, who shall be my next victim," she smirked. "You!" she shouted at Amberle.

"WHAT?" Amberle shouted.

"Yes, you. Come here," Madam Sillen hissed. With a sulk on her face, Amberle went forth. "Let's see, what have I got to work with? Tall, great legs but no cleavage, that is going to be a problem, " a dangerous flicker came into Amberle's eyes ,"Hmm…a round face, beautiful eyes which more than make up for your chest and quite an unsual hair color," Madam Sillen remarked at Amberle's hair, for it was a firm mixture of chestnut brown with beautiful streaks of auburn. The Arabic woman went back to her many isles of dresses and soon picked out a dress of fiery ember. Amberle shrugged and went to try on the dress.

A few minutes later she emerged. Again, all of the girls were shocked with out lovely their friend looked and Madam Sillen's wonderful eye for color. The dress was form-fitting yet if flowed out at the bottom, like the pictures of medieval fae and faeires. The dress showed off Amberle's back and it also had a round neck, just a little lower than Dorcas'. Around Amberle's neck was a gorgeous black and silk scarf that gave her the appearance as being lovelier than a swan. The look on Amberle's face was a neutral one; naturally she had never seen herself in such an expensive and high quality dress. And again, she disappeared into the changing room and reappeared in normal attire.

It was at that moment that Anthy announced that she had to leave. The black-haired girl smiled softly at her friends saying that she would see them later. Lily, Amberle and Dorcas all waved goodbye to their friend as they saw her disappear into to busy-body of Hogsmead village. Amberle and Dorcas smirked at each other. "Well my dear, it seems that it is now your turn," Madam Sillen pointed at Lily.

Nervously Lily stepped forth. She really didn't know what to say about Madam Sillen or the fact that she was to be fitted into a formal gown; something that Lily never imagined herself doing. Surely Madam Sillen would outfit her just as splendidly she did her friends. However Lily was nervous. "Yes, yes, you are most indeed a beautiful girl. I should like to see the young man who will have you as his bride," Madam Sillen said. Lily did nothing but blush, marriage was the very last thing on her mind. "Now then let's see…you have a very nice and petite figure, a round face, beautiful hair and by God, the most brilliant eyes I have ever seen in my existence," Madam Sillen smiled. Again, Lily blushed even harder. The only other person who even mentioned her eyes was her father and James; even then she never believed that her ordinary green eyes were that vivid. "How about a nice green to bring out that already magnificent sparkle in your eyes," Madam Sillen continued. She began rummaging through the hundreds and hundreds of formal dresses and picked out a silk dress, the color of a young pine tree, still in its youth. "Perfect".

Lily grasped the dress shakily. She was nervous at holding something of such obvious and high value. Surely if she damaged it in any way the price of the dress would be enough to feed the entire village of Hogsmead for a year! Slowly Lily slipped into the dressing room and tried on the delicate silken gown. When Lily looked at herself in the mirror she was amazed at what she saw. The dress was strapless and curved to her body perfectly. A sexy little slit was cut in one side that showed off her legs. Around her neck was the emerald tear-drop necklace her father had given her. The necklace alone seemed to tie the whole outfit together perfectly. On her feet were some slight heels that also had the criss-cross design up to her ankles. It was then she heard, "Lily, get your arse out here! We want to see," from Dorcas.

"Fine," Lily snapped back. She walked out impatiently with her hands on her hips.

"Hot damn that is good" Amberle burst out.

"You think?" Lily said.

"Would we lie to you?" Dorcas blurted out.

"There was that time in my second year when you lied about copying my homewo…"Lily began but she was cut off. Lily smirked.

"Oh shut up! We wouldn't lie about something like this," Dorcas said quickly, knowing the truth. She had lied about copying her friend's homework, on more than one occasion, but it was never a major assignment. More to the point, Dorcas thought that Lily never found out. Dorcas and Amberle never noticed Lily sneak back into the dressing room and come back out with her normal attire on. She and her three friends all ventured up to the register and paid for their outfits. All of them eventually left the shop with their money bags so light that any other further shopping in Hogsmead, unless it was at Amberle's family shop where they got ultra-low discounts, was out of the question.

As the three of them were walking back up the main road to the castle they could see the faint outline of Anthy coming down again. She had a slight smirk on her face which suggested some underlying mischief but everyone let it alone. "Anthy, I thought you had to go back up to the castle," Lily said. Why would her friend just all the sudden come back down?

"I did. I was late turning in my essay for Professor Lantis and you know what he's like. And I also had something I wanted to ask Professor McGonagall about," Anthy said. This time Amberle and Dorcas smiled silently too because they knew what Anthy was really up to. She had obviously asked McGonagall for permission about having a party in the Gryffindor Common Room. Apparently McGonagall had granted permission or else there would be a large sullen look on Anthy's face. Lily was obviously lost as to why Anthy had any business with the stern Professor, but she held her tongue.

Somewhat satisfied with the answer she got, Lily said nothing and her friends marched back up to the castle. But Lily was not as clueless as she let on. She knew something was up, but just as to what that something was, she didn't know. When Lily had gone up to Madam Sillen to pay for her dress, Dorcas and Amberle flat refused to let her pay for it because it was her birthday. With as much arguing and bickering that Amberle and Dorcas put up, Lily gave in. That dress was too much for her birthday. What would they do when they needed the extra money for a later emergency? 'Might as well ignore it with as stubborn as those two are. Anthy was most likely in on it too', she thought in her head. 'Well if you can't beat 'em, join 'em', or so they say. Once they were back up inside the castle they were greeted by the sneers of glowering Slytherins. But even that couldn't dampen the four friends' mood. Naturally Bellatrix Black and her group of Slytherins were among that group, but some of them were smirking dangerously and others were scowling. Bellatrix herself looked like a cat that had just found its unlucky rat and was grinning in evil glee. 'Yeah, but the dog can bite that cat's ass any day of the week,' Lily thought as she saw Sirius rushing up to the Common Room. "Guys, just ignore them," Lily softly. "They're not worth it".

"Not worth what mudblood," Bellatrix sniggered with her evil smile.

"Let's see, where shall I begin? How about a life for starters, and human decency. Oh and let's not forget regard for you as anything but the low-lives you are," Lily said coldly. Two of the more bulky members of the group flexed their muscles and began to charge at Lily and her friends when Bellatrix made a motion to stop them.

"Don't. She is obviously deaf to what is in her face. Let us wait and watch the little mudblood find that out the hard way, shall we?" she purred dangerously. Rodulphos Lestrange smirked as well and nodded in agreement. "May your time come mudblood," she continued. Then she turned around with the rest of her group and walked away. Snape on the other hand didn't immediately follow; he was not so much her lapdog as the others were and Bellatrix knew that. She monitored Snape constantly, knowing full well that his nature was dangerous. The black-haired, hook-nosed boy stared at Lily with an unknown expression on his face and turned in the other direction.

"Man Lily, you really shouldn't go messing around with them. You never know what that girl can conjure," Amberle said. Lily nodded, as well as the others. All four of them walked the stairs up to the Gryffindor Common Room in silence, save for when Nymphadora Tonks walked by, sporting wild electric green hair. The older girls waved and went back on their way. When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady Dorcas shouted the new password. When Lily walked in, the common room was entirely dark save for the embers sparking out of a dying fire. She pulled out her wand and muttered "lumo-"when she was cut off by a bright flair of light and a loud course of "SURPRISE". Lily jumped in place as every member of the Gryffindor House sprang out of absurd hiding places. A wide grin from cheek to cheek spread across Lily's face. "So that explains all the funny looks," Lily said to her three friends, "and why you had to talk to McGonagall," she said to Anthy who smiled.

"Happy Birthday Lils," Sirius and Remus exclaimed. "Sorry bighead isn't around. He's probley off sulking in a corner after losing such a hot babe as you," Sirius joked with his charming smile that lit up the room. "It sure was a pain in the ass keeping it a secret too," he added. But of course he and Remus and Peter were in the league with Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle for planning the party. Using the one-eyed witch passageway, they managed to nick a bunch of food from Honeydukes and two giant flagons of Butterbeer. Sirius also knew perfectly well that James was not at Hogsmead "checking out new Zonko's products", as he claimed, but actually looking for a gift for Lily. James had been 100 miserable without Lily, even with the girl from Ravenclaw, Ariana. Well then again, Sirius knew that he was only with Ariana so that he could take his mind off of Lily. But he had a skull thicker than a muggle.

For the rest of the evening, everyone from the Gryffindor house spend partying their brains out. The Marauders had managed to steal enough food so that even the first years could have seconds of everything. Lily received a large number of great gifts from all her friends and even people she had no clue as to who they were. Her three friends had snuck down to the kitchens and convinced the house-elves to bake an extremely large cake, big enough to feed everyone who worked at the Ministry of Magic. Once the party was over, which was around 11 PM when everyone finally went to bed to their dormitories, Lily sat right in front of the fire surveying her new gifts. Dorcas and Amberle had already bought Lily her dress but still did manage to buy Lily two large chocolate balls filled with custard. From Sirius and Remus came a bulging bag of Dungbombs ("You never know when you will need them" said Sirius) and a book of very advanced Charm Work. An owl had flown in during the middle of the party, bearing hastily scribbled 'happy birthday" from Petunia. Lily suspected that she had given the letter to her parents to send with an owl because Lily knew that Petunia would have nothing to do with owls of any sort. From her parents Lily was given a thick muggle fictional novel. Lily was happy beyond belief that so many people had pitched in for her birthday, even the Marauders. She had actually hoped James would show but after their argument, but Lily doubted that. He had been so angry with her. 'Well I acted like a fool, being outside that late,' Lily said to herself. James had a right to be angry. His best friend's secret was at stake and anyone would be angry given the came circumstances. At that moment Lily resolved to apologize to James the next chance she got.

She had been acting stupid since they broke up and Lily knew it. She wanted to slap herself for over-reacting the way she did with Ariana. Ariana had done nothing wrong. Nothing was going to change if she just moped around the castle wishing that she hadn't been so stupid as to go out ad midnight during a full moon. Checking her watch Lily nearly jumped out her seat, realizing that she had to do the hall patrols for two hours before she could head off to bed. Lily quickly ran up to her dormitory and grabbed her cloak and badge, and headed out into the dark corridors. After all, someone had to stop all those rule-breaking couples from snogging each other in the dead of night. Although Lily had found some rather peculiar couples snogging in some odd places; Sirius Black for example was caught in the middle of a heated snog session with some random girl from Hufflepuff the previous year. After a wide variety of hexes and name calling, Sirius had convinced Lily not to give him detention and keep it a secret from James.

Lily laughed at the thought of Sirius face when she walked in on them as she walked out of the Common Room. "Have fun," the Fat Lady whispered tiredly. When Lily began walking down the stairs she ran head-first into a very solid mass. "Watch where you're going," she snapped at the person who happened to be none other than James Potter. When Lily realized who it was she blushed, turned her head and said "Sorry about that. But shouldn't you be helping me with the hall patrols?" Lily joked up at James.

"You're right Lils, as Head Boy I have the official obligation to oversee these dangerous halls for damsels in distress such as yourself," James joked. Although it was dark, Lily could see the faint outline of his boyish grin.

"James, there is something I want to talk to you about," Lily began.

"Say no more, you are heartbroken that you lost the savage man who had filled her heart with passion. You lay awake at night thinking of me and muttering my name in your sleep," James said dramatically, sounding like he was narrating a cheap muggle romance novel.

"If I was Ariana Alveraz that might almost be true "Lily said back with a smile. Which might as well will be the truth. The Marauders were well known for breaking the hearts of girls all over Hogwarts. "Back to what I was saying, I'm sorry for…what happened earlier," Lily said. She hoped that James would forgive her.

"No Lils, I'm an asshole. I over reacted. You did nothing wrong I am the one who should be apologizing," James replied. "Hopefully this will say that I am sorry. Happy Birthday Lily," he said extending his hand and there was a small package in it. Lily smiled and took the package, which was poorly wrapped, and opened it. She smiled, if possible, even more at the contense of the small parcel. It was a small ball of chocolate from Honeydukes. Lily always liked the simple things compared to what money could buy.

"Thanks James. I think I'll keep you a bit longer," Lily said. She bit into the chocolate, which was filled with strawberry cream.

"Good, because I'm not ready to give you up yet," James said. He leaned over and kissed Lily sweetly on the cheek. "Well, off to Head duties," he said with a smirk; head duties meant two hours of them by themselves with free reign to prowl Hogwarts.

"Don't get any funny ideas now," Lily said quickly, knowing full well what James had in mind. "Men, you all think alike," Lily said.

"The same can be said here, women make no sense because they all think differently. There is no figuring them out from a guy's standpoint," James said practically. James and Lily were walking down to the Great Hall, for their first inspection.

"Not really, it just takes a few insiders tricks," Lily responded.

"And what would some of these tricks be?" James replied mischievously.

"Beats me, I just read that in a book somewhere," Lily laughed. James broke out in laughter. Only Lily would say something like that. That was why he loved her.

VIV—two days later at breakfast.

"Well it's about damn time you two got back together, "Dorcas said. It was Sunday morning and everyone was up late for breakfast in the Great Hall. "We were beginning to wonder how long it would take you to finally say 'screw it' and make up," she said while buttering her toast.

Lily blushed slightly at her friend's very blatant way of putting it. Always leave it up to Dorcas for a smart remark of any kind. "You could be a little more discreet about it, but yes we got back together," Lily said, poking at her bacon and eggs. It was Monday and time for another day of classes. To make maters worse, it was Defense Against the Dark Arts first thing in the morning with the Slytherins. Professor Flynn, the teacher, had announced during their last class that on Monday they would be participating in practical duels for their N.E.W.Ts . He would be grading everyone according to the same standards as the N.E.W.T testers would. At that moment the Marauders took a seat next to Lily and her friends.

"Dueling with the Slytherins for Defense Against the Dark Arts. An oxymoron if I ever saw one," Remus said. He was looking somewhat pale and peaky, 'the full moon?' Lily wondered. In just three days it would be the next full moon. Well at least this time Lily knew not to go out onto the grounds.

"What's worse, Flynn is choosing who will duel against who. We all know that he will pair every Gryffindor with a Slytherin," Sirius complained.

"How is that a bad thing Padfoot? That means if you get paired with Snivellus or my bitch of a cousin, we can kick their ass without getting points deducted or detention," James grinned.

"Yet another reason I am eternally grateful I am not in N.E.W.T. Defense," Peter piped up. "I can't duel to save my ass," he complained.

"Come on Peter, we have enough crap to worry about without your whining this morning," Sirius said. Peter said nothing, he just stared at the ground and sulked (A/N: take that, two timing bastard)

When the bell rung all of the students quickly dispersed and ran along to their classes. The Marauders on the other hand trudged to their class, along with Lily and her friends. Dueling with the Slytherins was not going to be a pretty picture at all. All of them could see already what was going to happen; the Gryffindor was beat the crap outta the Slytherins and out of sheer anger they would fire illegal spells and injure someone. Then Professor Flynn would get pissed and deduct house points and the Slytherins would blame the Gryffindor for losing points when it was really their own fault. It was like clockwork, it happened every time.

XVIVX

END CHAPTER. Well this certainly took a loooong time to get out. Well at least I didn't have everyone flaming me about the temporary break up and I think they got back together in a really sweet way. I also thought I might add that I had my birthday two weeks ago and that was one of the reasons this took so long to type out then Christmas was right after it. Needless to say I have been busy. I am thinking about starting another fanfic, this one about Tom and Ginny. Just an idea, don't know if I am going to go through with it. Any thoughts?

Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy New Year! Best wishes for everyone in 2005!!


	18. A Tender Moment

Welcome to Chapter 17! I'm so happy. I like this chapter a lot. I have been driving my Mom nuts while I was writing this because I listen to the Star Wars soundtrack at least 3 times straight.

Happy 2005 everyone!

Disclaimer: Yes I own Harry Potter. And Viggo Mortenson is stripping naked in front of my eyes and drooling mouth (Viggo so sexy!). I wish it was true. Harry Potter is property of J.K. Rowling.

P.S: If you haven't read OotP, there are some spoilers in this chapter.

I get to see my brother in 2 weeks! I am so excited because I hardly ever get to see my brother, Chad.

7 months and 16 days until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

VXIXV

The Marauders, as well as Lily and her friends, raced up the stairs to Defense Against Dark Arts lesson. They had just a few minutes before the bell rung and Professor Flynn did not tolerate students who were tardy. Unfortunately his classroom was at the very top of the East Tower, close to the Divination class room. Everyone managed to get to his class room on time and with only mere seconds before the bell sounded. When it did, Professor Flynn hobbled out of his office and into the main class area. The room had been magically rearranged; all the desks had vanished and were replaced by small chairs that outlined a large circle in the center. In the center was a large purple rug with a golden line divided right down the middle. On either end was the symbol of Gryffindor and Slytherin houses. The Gryffindors all sat all bunched up at one end of the room, as did all the Slytherins. Professor Flynn stood in the center and cleared his throat, "Welcome students. Today you will be preparing for your N.E.W.T. practical exam for this level of Defense Against Dark Arts. Dueling is a necessary skill that every witch or wizard needs to know but your level of dueling is dependant on your choice of career. Aurors for example have a much high level of dueling than those who work under the management of the Floo Network at the Ministry," Professor Flynn said in his heavy voice. He surveyed the students but Lily had always wondered why because his eyebrows were so bushy that it seemed impossible that he would be able to see out of his eyes. "I will be one judging your duels. You may use any spell as long as it is not illegal or will cause fetal damage to your opponent," he said glaring at the Slytherins. "You win your match if, and only if, your opponent is unable to duel by any means necessary. However you cannot knock out your opponent. If you do so, your house will lose points and you will be paying a nice little visit to your Head of House. Hand to hand contact is not allowed, we are wizards not muggles," Professor Flynn explained. He looked at his students, who all nodded in understanding.

Lily looked at James, who looked positively delighted that he could duel, and humiliate a Slytherin without being punished. Lily shared his state-of-mind. She only hoped that she would have a chance to go up against Rodulphos Lestrange for some much needed pay back. The gorilla looking boy was sitting in the back of all the Slytherins, whispering into Bellatrix's ears. Lily glanced around at Sirius who was starring with eyes full of hate. Dorcas and Amberle also looked thrilled at the idea of opening a can of Slytherin-whoop ass. Anthy looked as if she would rather jump off the Astronomy tower than duel. Lily gave Anthy an encouraging smile to which Anthy grinned back. "Good luck," she mouthed silently.

"Let's see, who's first. Ah ha, how about Meadows and Nott," Professor Lantis said. Dorcas' eyes filled with glee. It had always been one of her life-long goals to curse Nott to the hospital wing. She got up from her seat and moved into position on the purple carpet. Nott, who was shaped more like a bug than a person, walked to the opposite end. When Dorcas had been in her 2nd year, Nott had decided that it would be amusing to pelt her with Dungbombs that made her smell of droppings for two weeks. Even Lily found it hard to be around Dorcas with the ever-constant smell of dung. Since then Dorcas had been hell-bent for revenge. "On my mark…GO" Professor Flynn said.

The pair started out by glaring at each other viciously but Dorcas was the first one to strike, "_Expelliarmus_," she cried. At once Nott's wand flew out of his thin fingers and onto the ground under Dorcas' feet. Lily knew that her friend was feeling the strong temptation to stomp his wand in two, but she resisted.

"_Accio wand_," Nott cried but before he got a chance, Dorcas yelled "_Rictusempra_" and sent him flying across the ring. She picked up his lanky brown wand and twirled it around in her fingers, daring him to retrieve his wand. "_Batius_," Dorcas said. The full force of the Bat-Boogey curse hit Nott head on. He soon began molting into a black, grotesque form when Professor Flynn announced, "That is enough! The winner is Meadows. 10 points to Gryffindor," the Gryffindors applauded as Dorcas returned to her seat.

"How about Potter and Snape next," he said. Lily quickly glanced around at James who was holding the exact same look as Dorcas did. She then looked at Snape, who held the look of utter hatred. Lily did not blame Severus for how James and the others tormented him. He had a good reason to hate all four of the Marauders for all the humiliation they put him through, Sirius and James especially. Remus never took part in their worst pranks, but when it came to dropping Dungbombs or ink pellets on his head, he was all for it. Peter never really did nothing except snicker through his large square nose.

As soon as both had reached the purple rug James shouted "_Stupefy_" and Snape was already on his back. "_Parluzies_," he said and Snape was immediately paralyzed. "The winner is Potter, another 10 points for Gryffindor," the Professor said. James took the liberty of doing a victory lap around the purple rug before he returned to his seat, giving Lily a quick wink. "Evans and Lestrange, you are up next".

Lily got up nervously to a loud "Good Luck," from James and entered the rug. She looked at Rodulphos who looked like a venomous cobra, ready and waiting to strike. Lily supposed he wanted revenge for what happened earlier during the school year, but he wasn't going to get it. At Professor Flynn's word, Rodulphos started out immediately with a jet of red light aimed at Lily's heart in an attempt to stun her. She easily dodged it and cried, "_Mimblewimble_". A jet of indigo light hit Lestrange right smack dab square in the jaw. He looked temporarily flabbergasted and went to cast another spell when he found that he could no longer remember the words. Lily smirked, her spell had caused Rodulphos to become extremely confused and forget any and all spells that they knew. "_Petrificus Totalus_," she said and Rodulphos became as stiff as a board.

"Oh well done Evans. See class, she used both an offensive and defensive spell. That is the proper way of dueling. 15 points to Gryffindor for that one," the bushy-eyed Professor said. For the remainder of the class Bellatrix and Rodulphos continued giving Lily death glances.

Lily simply ignored them as the rest of the duels proceeded. Sirius went on to fight Narcissa Black, who did not share the same loathing between them as Bellatrix did. She only knew him as a blood traitor and mudblood lover and only despised him for his reputation and not for any personal reasons at all. Sirius left Narcissa alone for the most part. Sirius ended up beating another one of his cousins with ease. Amberle ended up fighting Marcus Stoslen, a Slytherin who resembled an underfed vulture. Amberle lost the match but it was not because she was disarmed or found herself incapable of dueling. She lost because Stoslen muttered a sexual insinuating comment under his breath and she broke his nose with her bare fists. Professor Flynn took away 10 points from Gryffindor and sent the bleeding Slytherin to the Hospital Wing. Remus was the one who got the "pleasure" of fighting Bellatrix to which the pair ended the duel at with a draw. Both Slytherin and Gryffindor was awarded 5 points. Anthy battled a straw-haired Slytherin called Bode. At the end duel, Anthy lost because she had been too slow at disarming him and she seemed like her mind was not concentrating on the duel at all.

At the end of class, Professor Flynn assigned everyone half a roll of parchment on the importance of dueling, the proper dueling technique, and ways they could have improved their duels in class. When Lily left the class she was trying to encourage the sullen looking Anthy, "Hey don't worry. You'll win next time," Lily said. Anthy didn't reply, she just gave Lily a small smile.

"Smart move there Moony. I don't think you would to make enemies with that bitch," Sirius said, referring to Remus' duel with his cousin.

"Amen to that," James replied. Then the warning bell rung, signaling three minutes before their next classes started. Remus waved goodbye as he went up to Airthmency. James and Sirius groaned because they both had muggle studies next. Anthy went ahead to her Divination class, waving goodbye to her friends. Amberle, Dorcas and Lily had Ancient Runes. They waved to James and Sirius both of whom winked back as they disappeared down the corridor.

VIV

Later on at lunch, Lily, Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle all caught up with the Marauders, including Peter. They all sat down in their designated spot at the Gryffindor table and went on to complain about the ridiculous amount of homework they all had been given. "Explain the magical properties of the number 7 on two feet of parchment, "Remus moaned.

"That's unusual coming from you," Amberle said.

"Actually there is a lot about old Moony that you don't know," Sirius joked brightly throwing Amberle a wink.

"And would prefer if no one knew," Remus said darkly. James, Sirius, and Peter laughed. Lily was also tempted to, but she did not want to break her promise not to say anything.

"Well you think you got it bad, we all have two rolls of parchment of nothing but symbols that we have learned ever since 3rd year. You only have one roll (A/N: two feet of parchment 1 roll)," Lily said.

"Why did I take the stupid subject to begin with?" Dorcas asked herself.

"Don't complain, you don't have to listen to Professor Valance say that everyone is going to die a miserable painful death," Anthy said, adding her two cents in. Professor Valance was the Divination teacher. She was small, frail, and looked like a muggle fortune teller.

"Damn, that almost makes me and Sirius' essay about electricity sound fun, "James said with a grin. "Wait I got an idea!"

"That's new," Sirius said.

"Shut up Padfoot before I charm your mouth shut. Lily, you're muggle born, you could help me and we could have some _fun_," James smirked with a light emphasis on the last word.

"Pervert!" Lily threw he heaviest book she had at James and laughed.

It was at that moment when a sound like a gunshot went off in the Great Hall. Lily turned her head immediately at the head table where Dumbledore was on his feet. The entire hall became so silent that one could hear a pin drop. In a grave voice Dumbledore said, "Everyone listen carefully. Two Death Eaters have been spotted in Hogsmead on the trail up to Hogwarts. You are all to return immediately to your dormitories. 5th year Prefects will lead their houses back to their common rooms whilst the 6th and 7th year Prefects, as well as the Heads, will see me for further instructions. Absolutely no one is to venture outside their common rooms under any circumstances. Go, now," Dumbledore said. There was a state of panic in most of the students. Even the Slytherins looked terrified, all save Bellatrix Lestrange and her group, but some of them wore worried expressions. Bellatrix was grinning like one of the evil black cats muggles read about in their fiction. Her heavy-lidded eyes were narrowed in glee.

James and Lily exchanged worried looks and ran up to the head table. All of the teachers were there and Dumbledore was soon giving instructions to everyone, "Teachers, you are to alert all the ghosts and put them on full alert. When you are finished with that I want you all to patrol and search the castle and its grounds. Prefects you are to patrol the areas surrounding your corresponding houses. I want each to be in contact at all times with the other. You will remain so until the search is over. You will be informed by your Heads of Houses when that is time, then you will remain in your common room and be on guard. If an emergency arises you are to come to either me, one of the teachers, or ghosts," everyone nodded with their instructions. "Go and good luck," Dumbledore said. Everyone began to disperse to different directions but Lily and James remained for they had not gotten their instructions.

"Um…Professor," James began.

"No I have not forgotten you two, but there is something that I need to discus with you and Lily. I disarray that you won't want the ears of everyone else listening in," Dumbledore said softly, his blue eyes no longer sparkled, but instead were filled with worry. When everyone was safely out of listening distance Dumbledore turned to Lily, "Lily I want to warn you about the immediate danger you are in. You know as well as I do that Voldemort's followers seek to rid our race of those who are born from muggles. I have no doubt that some of are students are just as bad as Voldemort himself and you are in more danger than you yourself realize. You and James are never to leave the other's sight. You two are to patrol the corridors at all times, and do not over look the dungeons or Owlry. A teacher will find and check up on you at least once every hour and when they are not near, you two will always have one of our faithful ghosts around. If anything is amiss you are to send up red sparks. They will be seen by all of the adults and the one nearest will come to your aid. You are not to venture outside the castle," Dumbledore said.

James and Lily nodded in understanding and went off in the direction of the Gryffindor Common Room. "Its best to make sure everyone is here and accounted for," James said to Lily. James felt like an idiot, he had never thought of what Dumbledore said, but it was true. If there were to be any attacks on any of the students in the school, it would be on Lily. She had crossed lines with Bellatrix and her group too many times to be overlooked and her extraordinary magical talent also made her a clear target. "Damn that bastard. Damn him and all of his followers," James cursed, meaning Voldemort and his Death Eaters. "I'm as pure blooded as they come and I don't understand all this prejudice against muggle-borns and half bloods. What's more Voldemort constantly holds my father's fate by his fingers," James spat bitterly.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked. She had never heard James like that, save when Snape called her a mudblood. She had also never heard James talk about his father in that manor and his worry and concern.

"My father is an Auror. He spends day and night tracking down dark wizards and putting them into Azkaban. My father is so dedicated to his work that he can't even send an owl safely to mum and me to let us know he is okay. I hate it. Granted my dad is the very reason why I wanted to become an Auror, I hate how little he is home and I constantly wonder if I will ever see him again, "James said. It was strange, not even Sirius knew of his worries but felt as if he could tell Lily what he couldn't tell Sirius. She would understand, that was just the sort of person she was.

"This may not be the sort of thing you want to hear, but in a way I share your feelings. Both my parents are muggles and we both know about all the hundreds of muggle families he has slaughtered. I always wonder if my parents or sister will be next," Lily said.

"Oh I wouldn't worry too much about that sister of yours," James said sarcastically.

Lily laughed softly and met James' warm hazel eyes. "You have a point there". When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Lily and James saw both of the Prefects patrolling. They asked if everyone was present and accounted for and the Prefects answered yes. James and Lily told them to keep up the good work. It was the same thing for the other three houses. Even the Slytherins were compliant and didn't shout out a single insult about Lily's blood.

Both Lily and James patrolled almost every end of the school from top to bottom. Every so often they met up with a teacher or an occasional ghost but other than that it was uneventful. The same routine went on for nearly seven hours and the sun had long since set behind the tall trees of the Forbidden Forest. Lily and James were currently in the Astronomy Tower, as instructed three times to investigate by Dumbledore, McGonagall and Lantis. "I never thought I would ever visit the Astronomy tower three times in a single day. I normally hate going just twice a week, much less trice in a day!" Lily said.

"Then you should have done what I did," James said.

"What's that?" Lily replied.

"Dropped Astronomy after O.W.L.s and took Muggle Studies instead," James joked. Truth be told, he actually found Muggle Studies interesting and quite funny. James often found himself laughing at the stupid ways muggle's found to survive without magic. "I personally can't believe that have passed the best snogging place in the school 3 times and haven't taken a break. Sirius would never let me live it down!"

"I can't believe it took you three passes not to bring up the fact this is the best snogging haven in the school," Lily laughed. She sat down on one of the old moth eaten chairs and sighed. "I need a rest. We have been going non-stop for 7 hours and it is 8:00 at night. When will Dumbledore let us get back to normal lessons?" Lily said.

Suddenly James got an idea. "Lils, if you want a rest follow me. I know the perfect place and none of the teachers know about it or the ghosts," James exclaimed. He grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her down the stairs to the 3rd floor corridor to a fading tapestry of Barnabas the Bramy teaching trolls ballet. A small door appeared and James turned the rusted doorknob that led inside. James hadn't found the Room of Requirement until his 5th year but it had been worth it. He could not count the number of times that he and Sirius had used it to hide away dungbombs or to nurse themselves back to health from their monthly gallops across the school grounds with Moony.

Inside the Room of Requirement were four large chairs, a crackling fire and a table full of sweets and Butterbeer. "James…what…how…when. Damn," Lily sat herself down on one of the large squashy chairs. "Wow, how did you find this place? I'm surprised I haven't seen this room before," she said.

"May I introduce the Room of Requirement. All you have to do is walk past that tapestry of the Barnabas training trolls to do ballet three times while concentrating on what you really want or need and then it produces it," James explained. "I think several of the teachers have stumbled upon it before but have yet to find it again," he said while pouring two bulging mugs full of Butterbeer. "Here" he offered Lily.

Lily took her drink with much satisfaction. This was just the place she needed. After searching the castle for so long it took a toll on her body. She suspected that James was tired too but he didn't want to show it. "I almost feel guilty about this. We're sitting here in absolute luxury while everyone else is searching the castle and grounds for Death Eaters. But nothing has turned up, I wonder if the report was fake," Lily pondered.

"No, I doubt it was fake. Dumbledore has his brother down in the village, and as strange as he is, he wouldn't betray his own brother," James said.

"Dumbledore has a brother," Lily questioned in shock.

"Yeah, you didn't know that? He's that bloke who runs the Hog's Head," James explained.

"Well that explains it. I haven't been in the Hog's Head. I prefer the Three Broomsticks where you don't have to worry if your Butterbeer is poisoned," Lily joked. As guilty as she felt about sitting in luxury after being given the trust of Dumbledore and all the other teachers, it soon fell away being alone with James in this perfect place that almost no one knew about. Her entire body warmed up after taking the first sip of the Butterbeer. She glanced at James as he stared into the fire; his handsome and perfect features were illuminated by the soft fire light. God, he was perfect, and Lily thanked God for being blessed by him for James. Lily began to get slightly sleepy and leaned her head on James' shoulder. He was so warm and soft, she loved every moment of it.

James tensed a slight second at the pressure on his shoulder but relaxed at Lily's caress. Her eyes were closed and she had a serene smile on her face. Looking down at her hand, James took it in his and Lily grasped on to it. Her presence was so soothing to James. Before either of them knew it, they were asleep.

XIX

Both of them woke up later on that night. James clocked his watch at midnight and gently woke Lily. "Lils, I think we should get back to our patrol. The teachers are probley wondering where we are by now. For all we know Dumbledore could have resumed the normal agenda and the 4th years are up at the Astronomy tower for their lesson," James said softly. 'Mhmm hmm' Lily said softly. She lifted her head off of James' shoulder and regained her normal composure.

"Come on then. Let's get going," Lily said. "Although what a predicament we will be in if there is a teacher outside".

"No problem love," James said. He pulled out from his cloak an extremely yellowed piece of parchment along with his wand. "I _solemnly swear I am up to no good_," said James.

Immediately the map of Hogwarts was displayed in its full glory on the piece of parchment. Lily awed at it. "Another thing that Sirius, Remus, Peter and I thought of". Dumbledore was pacing around in the dungeons, Lantis and McGonagall were in the trophy room, and the closest teacher was Professor Flitwick who was running around the floor above them. "Hey Lils, check this out," James pointed to two little dots labeled "Sirius Black" and "Amberle Helen Adams" that were sitting right in the Prefect's Bathroom. "Well it looks like they found a way to dodge the teachers".

Lily laughed. It figured that Amberle would sneak out with Sirius. It had been really obvious that they felt for each other but now they had the evidence to prove it. She made a mental note to taunt Amberle about it later, as did James with Sirius. With the all clear to exit the Room of Requirement, Lily and James resumed their duties. It was not half an hour later when they were confronted by Professor McGonagall. "I have been looking for you two for the past 30 minutes. Not even the ghosts or Peeves could find you. Well never mind that. Dumbledore says that you two are to retire for the night," the stern woman said. Lily and James nodded and returned for their dormitories. Both were extremely glad to find their scarlet four-poster bed's calling their names. Lily kissed James goodnight and headed off to her dorm. James had to work extra hard not to invite Lily to his room, but he managed to fight off the urge.

Up in Lily's dorm, she was wondering if she had any of that dream potion left over. However her thoughts were cut short as Amberle came into the room. "Well, someone had been with Sirius," Lily joked. Amberle froze.

"I thought you were asleep," she said.

"I just got in from Head Duties. So is Sirius as good as they say," Lily smirked. Even in the dark she could see the blush on Amberle's face.

"If you tell me whether or not Potter lives up to his reputation, I'll tell you about Sirius," Amberle retorted.

"So he is as good as they say," Lily said with a smile. Amberle responded by throwing a pillow at Lily and hitting her smack dab in the face.

"Shut up the both of you, we are trying to sleep," said Dorcas and Anthy at the same time.

IVXIXVI

END CHAPTER. Now I like this chapter. Two chapters in one week. That is what winter break brings. I loved the little romance scene between the two of them. The chores of the song "Come What May" coming from my CD player helped a lot too . I guess I am just a romantic at heart.

Thank you for all your wonderful reviews. They mean so much to me, they really do. I love getting reviews.

And yes, Dumbledore's brother is the bartender at the Hog's Head. Rowling confirmed that at the Edinburgh Book Festival. I can't wait for book 6. The circumstances of Voldy's birth will be explained and we get to know what is under the Dementor's hood. Rowling had better not kill of Remus. If she dose kill him, my friend, who loves Remus, will probley go into a deep dark depression. Oh yeah, my friends and I have a bet on as to who defeats Voldemort, Harry or Neville. Everyone seems to think it is Neville but It HAS to be Harry because of what the prophecy said "…And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal…" Voldy was the one who gave Harry his scar and thus "marking him his equal". Neville probley dose have marks and scars all over him from all his classical screw ups and blunders but none were induced by Voldemort himself. It HAS to be Harry.

Anywhoo, I will have 18 out A.S.A.P.

Until next time,

Narya


	19. Confrontations!

And welcome back for chapter 18! I'm so proud of myself. I have a really bad habit of writing a story and then abandoning it, so I am glad I have stuck to this one for so long. I still have lots and lots of plans for it. And for those of you wondering, the Graduation Ball is NOT far off wink wink hint hint. For some odd reason I have compelled myself to watching the movie Beauty and the Beast over and over again. Lumire and Cogsworth are so funny. I don't think the beast is that ugly; he is downright cute in his beast form! I wonder how many opera sings they had to go through before they found the right one for Gaston's voice.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is NOT mine. J. K. Rowling owns it. Accuse me of stealing it and I will cut off your head and give the shurken head in the Knight Bus a friend.

When someone reviewed they said that they had hoped for a show down between our favorite couple and the death eaters…well this is it…kinda…

Warning: make-out scene in here. No like, no read.

Enjoy

XVIVX

Lessons for the next day had been cancelled. All of the students were still stuck in their dormitories and the teacher's were up to their necks in patrolling duties, under Dumbledore's orders. It seemed that Dumbledore felt as if there was a threat inside the castle and he didn't want anything unchecked or student in danger. Both Lily and James were exhausted from all their patrolling duties. Professor McGonagall insisted that Lily and James split up on the third day to cover more ground in one last final check before lessons were to officially resume. Lily was enjoying all the time she got to spend with James and learned a great deal about him that she had not known before. James also felt the same way with Lily, knowing that they wouldn't have very much time to spend with each other once lessons resumed. N.E.W.T.'s were fast approaching and it was common knowledge that every teacher would drill and work them the very bones in preparation. Things had been hard enough when they had taken their O.W.L. exams, and even James made time to study in the library. He could only imagine how hard things would be for the N.E.W.T. exams.

The subject of N.E.W.T. exams was on James' mind until around noon when lunch was announced. The students were only allowed out of their common rooms for meals, and even then they were escorted with their Head of House. James, as well as Lily, were already seated in the Great Hall before everyone else had gotten there. Once the students started pouring in Sirius, Remus, Peter, Dorcas, Anthy, and Amberle found their friends and took a seat with them. Meal times were the only times when the students got a chance to free their minds from what was going on, but James was so tired from all his patrolling he found it impossible to talk. All he wanted to do was take a nap in the Room of Requirement, or go skip off into the Forbidden Forest, in his stag form of course, and run around. Sirius and Remus could see the exhaust in their friend's face, but Peter really didn't know when to keep his mouth shut. Twice Sirius cursed Peter's mouth shut to give James a moment of peace. Lily looked even worse. She had large circles under her eyes and exhaust drained the green fire from her eyes. "Well at least being Head Boy dose pay off, because we get the next lesson day off," James did manage to say during lunch, incidentally causing Sirius to turn green with envy.

"What? Now that's crap. They should give us a break too," Sirius wined.

"Yeah right, you're not the one wandering the school hour after hour for almost two days straight," Lily smiled. Earlier Lily had sneaked off to a darkened corner of the Astronomy tower where she took a half an hour nap, but only awoke in even more annoyance at the thought of even more patrol duties. "Man, once his whole thing is over and I get a day off, the first time I'm doing is sleeping till noon," she said.

"Amen to that," James responded and threw Lily a small wink. Lily blushed and turned her eyes back to her food.

Sirius and Remus smirked at each other at Lily's reaction. She still wasn't used to all the attention she got since she had been going out with James. Peter gave James dumbfounded look.

"I almost wish a Death Eater would break in, and then we would have some action," Amberle blurted out.

"Good, then you can fight them while I take a nice long sleep in my bed," Lily said. James had a particularly hard time getting the image of Lily on a bed, in a vulnerable position out of his head, but he did manage it eventually.

At the sound of the bell lunch was over and the rest of the students returned to their Common Rooms. Lily was on her way to the Charms Corridor, while James checked the Trophy Room. Lily sighed; this whole process was getting repetitive to her. She shared Amberle's sentiment. At least if a Death Eater suddenly burst in it would make all the lost hours of her patrolling Hogwarts not completely wasted effort. Half way to the Charms Corridor, Lily met up with Professor Flitwick who waved her a cheery hello. "Hello Professor," Lily responded.

"My, it appears that this whole search is taking a toll even on you," he replied. Lily grinned; she had a notorious reputation of being tireless when it came to school work. And technically, patrolling the school for Death Eaters counted as school work to Professor Flitwick.

"Yes it has. Even Potter is getting tired," Lily said, careful to use James' surname so as not to give away how she felt about him to a Professor.

"Well hopefully everything will be back to normal by tomorrow Miss Evans. Then you will get a much needed rest. Well I must be getting back to my duties, wouldn't want one of the ghosts reporting that we are slacking. Off you go," he said and waved Lily goodbye. Lily waved back and smiled. How could Professor Flitwick always keep such a sunny outlook on things? She liked that about her Charms teacher; his radiant warm attitude was contagious, even to people like Professor Lantis. She grimaced at the thought of Professor Lantis. The one time she had run into him in her rounds he had spat at her, screeching that she needed to pay more attention to her surroundings. He spat so much in Lily's face that her face glistened brightly as the shine of the candles reflected upon it. At that point, Lily was still patrolling with James, and it was very clear to the eye that he was having an extremely hard time keeping a straight face.

When Lily turned the corner to the Trophy Room she was surprised to find someone else already in it. Apparently James had cut his end of patrols short to meet up with Lily. She smiled. James was standing next to the trophy dedicating the winner of the year's previous Quidditch Cup to the Gryffindor team. In brightly polished brass letters it read "JAMES POTTER". 'Its enough to give any guy a major ego boost,' Lily thought silently. "Well well, what brings you here?" Lily said playfully.

"Nothing in particular. Just felt like seeing you again," James said with a smirk. "After all, ten minutes can seem like an eternity to some people". He said. Before Lily even had a chance to reply James had already claimed her mouth with his in a savage kiss. He could clearly feel her tension in the surprise of the moment, but it quickly died. Then James could feel her push her mouth against his with the same furious intensity. He heard Lily moaning and that only stimulated him even more. On the other hand, he was slightly surprised when he felt Lily's tongue brush up against his teeth. 'That little minx,' James thought lovingly. He cared about her more than anything, even more than his top of the line Broomstick. His heart belonged to her. If only Lily knew…she had so much power over him. The thought almost scared James, because he knew that evil scum-sucking bastards like Voldemort and his Death Eaters would not hesitate a second to use her against him.

Soon James' mouth left Lily's and began a trail of hot kisses down her neck. 'Her skin is so soft,' James thought as he continued down. Her neck seemed to have just the right curve to allow James' face fit against his. In a way, both were built to be perfectly molded against each other. "Lily…" James managed to say before he was engulfed with sensual pleasure. Slowly but surely, James moved Lily and him self, while still enjoying the taste of her skin against his, to a dark corner of the Trophy Room. In case a teacher or a ghost walked in, they would have a much better chance of not being seen. The couple hid behind a tall golden statue to Armando Dipped. Once safely out of sight, James continued his ravage with full force.

James wanted the moment to last forever. The fact that they were in danger of being spotted only aroused him further to continue his pursuit. As he buttoned open Lily's blouse he earned a savage moan from her. If indeed they were spotted anyone, James would just love to have to explain why he was snogging her right in the middle of an open room, in broad daylight, under the threat of Voldemort and his followers! The thought just exhilarated James. Life was nothing without a bit of danger. He could feet her hardened nipples under the thin white lace of her bra, and so wanted to get the annoying piece of fabric off.

However James plans were cut short as shower of red sparks was seen just out the hall. Lily also seemed to notice it as well because she immediately snapped into reality and drew out her wand. The shadows of two tall figures could be seen outside the room. While Lily was buttoning up her blouse, James was filled with panic. Red sparks! That meant Death Eaters had been spotted for definitely, or there was major trouble. James motioned for Lily to slowly walk out of their hiding place, and soon he too, drew out his long wand. Golden sparks shot out from the pointed tip (A/N: NOT that way!). Fear was glazed in Lily's dazzling eyes. James didn't blame her, he was frightened as well. Not so much for himself, but for Lily.

The two slowly walked without making a sound to the door and peered out from the corner. There seemed to be no one there. Figuring it was at least somewhat safe; James stepped into the hall first. His wand was in a defensive position. "Did you enjoy that little mudblood whore?" a voice gawked. Soon the two shadows emerged. They were dressed entirely in long black cloaks that draped to the ground and the definite line between them and their shadow could not be distinguished. Two grey masks covered what little showed of their face. Immediately James knew the voice that had spoken up. The cold icy grey eyes from behind the mask confirmed his suspicions as well. "Lucious Malfoy…you bastard," James growled dangerously. The other man who was slightly shorter and stocker, with dark brown eyes that reeked of decay, chuckled in amusement; his laugh sounded like a cross between a snake's hiss and a very bad wheeze.

Without warning a beam of red sparks flew at Lily who dodged it and ran out into the open hall to face the two Death Eaters in front of her. She tried to get as close to James as she could without seeming weak. The wheezy voiced man was recognized by Lily as Regulus Black, Sirius' brother. "James, the other one is…" she began but was cut off.

"Sirius' brother. I know. I could never forget that disgusting laugh," James sneered. Regulus was almost as slimy as Bellatrix Lestrange and her group. The only difference was Regulus knew nothing of stealth and secrecy, and could never hide his true intents without a mask. Bellatrix on the other hand could hide anything and was unpredictable. She could hide anything on her cold, black, eyes.

All four people began circling each other like hawks until Lucious spoke up, "So Potter, I bet you never imagined your last moments would be with that little whore of yours before I strike you down," he spat out. "Tell me; is she as fiery as her hair? Dose she scream your name in pleasure, or just make funny faces like all the other Mudbloods," Lucious mocked. James narrowed his eyes in anger. How dare he bring her into this like that! He would kill that scum if it was the last thing he did, James vowed at that moment. James aimed his wand squarely at Malfoy's heart but Lily got the first word.

"STUPEFY," Lily screamed at the top of her lungs. She hoped that someone, anyone, would hear her. With all the ghosts and teachers prowling the halls someone was bound to hear her. Even the paintings could spread news as they liked.

The curse was too strong for the shielding charm to work against it and Malfoy, with great effort, ducked out of the way. Regulus followed his comrade's act. Lily admired her spell casting abilities for a moment, but it was quickly forgotten. A jet of deadly looking sparks came from Lucious Malfoy's wand aimed at her and Lily didn't want to gamble that it was a simple spell that could be blocked. She ducked behind the door just as the sparks flew past her. Just then Lily heard James shout, "_RICTUSEMPRA_". That spell nearly scraped Regulus Black's left arm and Lily heard James curse for missing him by a split hair. But there was no more time to think about that because Lucious was coming back for the kill. 'Please God, let someone hear!' Lily prayed silently.

"Is the widdle mudblood scarded of mean Malfoy's wand?" Malfoy mocked in a disgustingly false baby voice that made Lily's insides churn. To her right, Lily saw jets of light of all colors being sent back and forth by James and Black. She could only hope that James didn't get hit but Lily forced James out of her head and onto the deadly opponent in front of her. Lily fired a wave of bright blue sparks that were from the Spell of Paralysis. Again Malfoy avoided the hit but this time sent back a much more deadly curse. Bright vivid green light was coming towards Lily. The Killing Curse! Lily ran as fast as her legs could carry her out of the path. There was no blocking it. The sound of shattering glass could be heard as the spell hit a window and continued its path outside. Lily only prayed that there wasn't some innocent student in its path. But she couldn't think about that.

Lily raised her wand to send out another deadly curse at her opponent but a sharp pain seared across her back and she blacked out completely. "LILY," James said. He gazed at Regulus. The bastard had hit Lily in the back with a powerful curse that James did not know. All he did know was that he wanted to inflict as much bodily harm as possible to the two blood-sucking bastards in front of him. "Damn you," James whispered violently.

"You should be more worried about yourself than your little whore," Regulus wheezed.

James turned red in the face with anger. How dare they strike at her! His free hand was clenched in a fist so tight that his nails drew blood. James' hazel eyes turned 10 shades darker out of the pure hatred that coursed through his veins. How dare they! "You bastard. I will kill you for what you have done," James spat out bitterly.

"Kill us? Think about your position. If only you weren't such a mudblood lover. You could serve the Dark Lord and his rightful purpose," Lucious said with out the tiniest trace of emotion. He raised his wand at James but soon another voice was heard, "_ALIENTUS_" it yelled. James looked to see both Malfoy and Black become rigid and their eyes cloud over with grey. Soon a loud thump could be heard as they hit the floor. Behind them was Albus Dumbledore wearing an expression that scared James. The twinkle in his eyes had completely disappeared and his faced was lined with heavy veins that protruded in anger. James knew in that moment why Voldemort feared Dumbledore.

The clap of footsteps could be heard as Professor McGonagall could be seen running up the stairs. She gasped when she saw the bodies of the two Death Eaters and Lily. Dumbledore spoke up in an oddly calm voice, but still shaky with anger, "Minerva I will leave you to deal with these two. They will not be waking up any time soon. Contact the Ministry at once. I want them out of my school and away from the students," he declared. James wasn't listening. He had dropped to his knees beside Lily and was anxiously feeling for a pulse.

He grabbed her limp wrist and checked it. After a few seconds of dread, a hopeful thrust of blood could be felt through her skin. James breathed a sigh of relief. She was still alive. He didn't know what he would have done if Lily had died. The faint rise of Lily's chest in breath caused James to almost break out in tears of relief. Lily was still unconscious but James could live with that. She would wake up eventually, as long as she got up to the hospital wing as soon as possible. James looked up at Dumbledore and said, "Professor, I am going to go take Lily to the Hospital Wing".

He did not wait for a reply and picked up Lily's limp form and managed to balance it on his back. James went as quickly as his legs could carry him up the many staircases to reach Madam Pomfrey in time.

IVI

The next day Lily still hadn't woken up. Lessons had resumed and the two Death Eaters had been taken to the ministry. James was excused from his lessons (although not from the homework) but he did not spend his time as he had originally planned. James was up in the Hospital sitting next to Lily's bed for a majority of the time. While Madam Pomfrey had said she would make a full recovery, James still wasn't reassured. During Lunch Dorcas, Anthy, Amberle, Sirius, and Remus were also up in the Wing. The school nurse had difficulty restraining her objection, but held her tongue. Remus had given James the homework he missed from Transfiguration and Charms. "Moony, do you ever stop working," Sirius joked. Everyone laughed.

When lunch was over everyone scattered to their classes and James found himself alone with Lily again. He had begun writing the essay for McGonagall when Lily's eyes darted open. Of all the things she could have seen when she woke up; James doing homework was at the bottom of her list. Lily laughed and finally said, "I didn't know you had the ability to do homework". James dropped his quill.

Lily laughed. "You would have thought I'd died," she said.

"You could have," James replied with all seriousness.

"Don't be such a worry wart," Lily said.

"That's a first, you telling me not to worry," James joked. Normally Lily was always on his back about worrying about his grades, or his finals.

"There's more to life than worrying," Lily said softly. As she lied there in the soft cotton sheets, Lily remembered the dreams that had haunted and pleased her.

IVI (dream/flash back mode)

The Hogwarts Express was gleaming in the bright autumn sunlight. An 11-year-old Lily Evans glanced nervously around her settings. She still couldn't believe she was a witch! Although it was the best and only explanation of how she had managed to turn her teacher's wig yellow by accident when she was mad. All around her were people just like her, who had magic. As a little girl Lily had always dreamed of magic wands, fierce fire-breathing dragons, and evil wizards. She would never have guessed in a million years that she would live them. However now she didn't think of the wizards as evil any more.

A loud roar of smoke came from the shining steam engine. Lily gulped in anticipation and nervousness as her final farewell to her old life.

(any time you see these three stars, it means that there is another dream)

Lily was 12 and at the Halloween feast in her second year of Hogwarts. As per norm, the Great Hall was decked out in hundreds of smirking Jack-o-Lanterns and the live bats flew around the hall. Lily suspected that Dumbledore summoned them every year for Halloween. The odd Headmaster could be seen drinking from his jewel incrusted, golden goblet. Sitting next to Lily was her two best friends, Dorcas and Anthy. Back then, Dorcas' light brown hair had been down to her waist and she didn't consider men an abomination. She was eagerly stuffing down two whole pork-chops and an entire plate of mashed potatoes. Every so often Dorcas would stop for a breath and a quick swig of Pumpkin Juice. Anthy looked quite the same as she usual did, only with a bright smile on her face. Her pale Grecian face glowed in the presence of the candles and she resembled, in Lily's eyes, one of the witches from the infamous muggle story Macbeth. Lily giggled at the thought of Anthy circling a boiling cauldron mumbling "humble humble, toil and bubble". Dorcas turned around, as did Anthy, and asked Lily what was so funny. "Nothing," she replied with a smile.

A large booming laugh came from the other side of the Gryffindor table. The three girls looked around to see James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin smirking in glee over at the Slytherin table. "Great, looks like the Marauders are going to end up playing another stupid joke on Slytherin," Lily said.

"Well not on Slytherin in general, just that weird Snape fellow," Dorcas replied with her mouth half-full of food.

"Snape is more of a toerag than Potter. Why dose he always mess with him," Anthy quietly mused. "Once Potter pranks Snape, then Snape will prank the entire Gryffindor House. And it will go on…and on," she finished. Anthy never did like the loud jokes of the Marauders.

"He's just a bone-headed numbskull," Lily said. She was about to tell of James as he raised his wand to Snape's back.

The dark moon showed high in the sky as a 16 year-old Lily was going through the woods to find a suitable place to relieve her aching stomach. 'Blast my parents and their stupid ideas to go camping,' she mentally cursed. After losing their dinner, the entire family had been sick to their stomach from the terrible canned beans that they had been forced to eat. It was either eat the beans or don't eat at all. Lily had already thrown up twice from them and now her other end had begun to hurt. Lily, who did not want to be caught with her pants down, had wandered into the woods for a safe place to relieve the pressure that had been building up. As she wandered more and more into the daunting woods she could hear two voices whispering to each other. Lily ducked down into the nearest bush for cover, not wanting to be seen by prying eyes. As she did Lily saw two dark figures in the distance, both cloaked in black, but vaguely outlined by the moon light. One was very tall and bone thin, while the other short and pudgy. Her heart stopped as she realized who the taller of the two was. His face, that was whiter than a skull, could be mistaken for none else. Lord Voldemort was in the small clearly just yards away from where Lily herself stood. Lily remembered the words," What of your 'friends' Wormtail," the voice of the Dark Lord spoke, placing a light touch on the word 'friends'.

The scenery changed again to a dark summer's eve outside a little cottage. It was a new moon, and the sky was dark and lightless. Through the windows of the tiny house little candles illuminated a tall man looking through the window at his wife and child. Just outside the door was wooden bench and perched on top was a young woman with thick rich red hair and a little boy with jet black hair that stuck out in all directions. The woman was summoning little creatures made of wisps of pale blue light emanating from her wand. A smile was placed across her beautiful face as the little boy reached out in a futile attempt to catch them.

(okay, end dream time. See, I didn't write that whole Voldemort confrontation for nuttin! And it plays in more in around 2-3 chapters)

Both Lily and James had free classes the next day as well. Madam Pomfrey would have had a thing or three to say to Dumbledore if her patient wasn't given another day to recuperate. James on the other hand, most likely talked his way out of classes. Lily was amazed that Dumbledore allowed him another day off, with excused homework! Lily made good use with her time by writing some letters to her family, and catch up on the work she had missed. During lunch, one of her three friends would come up to the tower and inform her of what she missed in her last class. Once even Sirius came up between classes. But for the most part, Lily was alone and spent most of her time with Nenya. Nenya had no problem with that, in fact, he seemed thrilled with the idea of spending the entire day being petted by Lily.

Around two in the afternoon while Lily was in the middle of a particularly sappy romance novel, an owl flew in through the window and dropped a letter into her lap. The letter was written on regular muggle paper. Scrawled hastily on the cover was "LILY EVANS, HOGWARTS" in what Lily recognized immediately as her sister's handwriting. She threw her book down to the floor and went about the process of reading the letter.

_Lily, _

_Because you are a blood relative of mine, mother has insisted that you be part of me wedding to Vernon. You will be one of my bride's maids and I would highly advise you not to come wearing some freak outfit. The wedding will have normal people in it. It is going to be held the week after you come home from that weirdo school of yours. For the dinner after, you will need to have a dance partner (just don't bring someone with extra arms) and make sure he has manners. _

_From-_

_Petunia_

_P.S: DO NOT bring those friends of yours to MY PERFECT wedding. I will not allow you freaks to wreck it. _

Lily felt like a fool. "Freak is it?" she growled at the letter. Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle were perfectly sane to the usual blonde bimbo's her sister hung out with. Lily couldn't stand the idea of being in a wedding ceremony with her sister's friends who only talk about make-up and the latest fashion trends. The one time Petunia had a slumber party had been bad enough. Lily had been 14, and Petunia 17. Because her sister was having a full-blown sleep over, Lily was allowed to have one of her friends stay over. Anthy was in Greece with her family, so Dorcas came over to keep her friend company. All had gone well until almost midnight. For several hours Lily and Dorcas had been playing Exploding Snap and Gobstones, while all of the older girls were locked up in Petunia's room. While in the middle of talking about how much they hated the Marauders, and their 7th game of Gobstones, one of Petunia's friends', Jasmine, had walked into the room wearing a complete seaweed facemask. Even though Dorcas was muggleborn, like Lily, the sheer shock of seeing someone barge into a room with a green face caused Dorcas to miss her shot and a wave of smelly green liquid shot out of her marbles. Dorcas had managed to dodge it, but poor Jasmine was right in the trajectory path. She smelled of dung for the entire night, and Lily had to deal with her sister's constant rants about how her 'freak of a sister could have ruined her social life forever'.

However as Lily remembered the incident she laughed and wished she had brought a camera to capture the priceless look on Jasmine's face when it was covered in smelling green liquid.

XVIVX

END CHAPTER. Well I did get this out a little sooner than I had thought. And here is the heroic Death-Eater confrontation. This is NOT to be confused with the three times Lily/James defied Voldy-kun.

Please R&R. Reviews will be greatly accepted and apriciated and will help get the next chapter out all the quicker.


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